


Galaxies Apart

by CoupdeJarnac



Category: Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: Awkward First Times, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-14
Updated: 2018-01-05
Packaged: 2018-10-18 15:09:50
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 41,971
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10619511
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CoupdeJarnac/pseuds/CoupdeJarnac
Summary: After the fall of the Archon, Milky Way species can finally focus on trying to live in Andromeda instead of just surviving, bringing them more in contact with the angara.Being stationed on Aya to help smooth out difference and avoid misunderstandings is a dream job for Julie, though figuring out how things actually work is an entirely different story. Her work brings her in contact with a variety of new and interesting people, including a close knit set of angaran friends and others who do not appreciate a Milky Way presence on Aya.





	1. New Beginnings

**Author's Note:**

> Rated explicit, though anything explicit won't be for quite a while.
> 
> Noted: Chapter 1 edited/updated 31/7/17, because it read a bit script like. Hopefully everyone still enjoys ^.^

“Watch where you're going!” came a voice from somewhere behind Julie. Her palms stung from hitting the ground hard after tripping and she quickly began picking herself up from the busy walkway in embarrassment.

 _Awesome, first day and you're already the public spectacle._

While Julie had never been the most graceful person she had never been this clumsy, though being on Aya was a bit overwhelming in the best way possible. The Nexus was beautiful in its own way, but nothing compared to being somewhere so alive and real.

Julie turned around to see who was speaking. There was an angaran man knocked to the ground too, leaning back on the retaining wall for a flower bed and presumably who had yelled at her.

People around her were whispering and gawking, “the human didn't even see him kneeling there”, “how can someone be so clueless?” and Julie felt the blood rush to her face in embarrassment.

“I'm so sorry,” she began as she got up to check on the man, “it's my fault, it's my first day here I wasn't watching where I was going and-”

“It's fine” the man snapped as he rubbed his wrists, “Accidents happen. Now if you excuse me I have work to finish”.

He tried to push himself up off the ground, bracing his hands against the ground and wall though seemed to be having difficulty getting his legs to support himself, which made Julie feel even worse about knocking him over in the first place. He tired a few more times, grappling with the retaining wall and trying to force his legs to do what he wanted before finally letting out an annoyed huff and pulling up the interface to the communicator on his wrist.

“Allya, can you send Sivus and Paalka to come help for a moment?” the man asked into his communicator.

“ _Legs bothering you?_ ” came a woman's voice over the comm.

“Something like that. I'm on the south side of the memorial garden, by the planter we were trying to use to grow adhi’s eyes" he told the woman.

“ _They'll be right up, 15 minutes alright_?” she asked.

“ _Not like I'm going anywher_ e” he grumbled back.

Julie sat down next to the man. “I'm really sorry, you were kneeling down and I didn't even see you, I was just so excited to be here and I wasn't paying attention-”

“It's alright, it's unpleasant but it's nothing new” he cut off. The man seemed to have entirely given up on getting up on his own and was now examining his legs, running his hands along the joints and frowning deeply. 

“People tripping over you?” Julie asked.

“No. That's new. People usually look where they're walking” he said flatly. He leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes, the looks on his face said he was in quite a bit of pain.

“Are you going to be alright?” she asked.

“I'll be fine” he responded through gritted teeth, whatever was causing the pain appeared to be getting worse. “People are coming to help, and everything will be fine”.

“Why don't I stay until they get here?” Julie felt like the least she could do was stay with him after knocking him over and possibly injuring him.

“Do what you want, human” his voice was flat again, he did not seem to be in the mood to talk.

Julie looked out through the canopy. Aya was beautiful, the waterfalls, the plants, the flowers, everything was so vibrant; she still could not believe that the Nexus had stationed her here, though everything felt a little less rosy after making a spectacle of herself. Luckily people seemed to be moving on quickly and Julie hoped this was not going to be her own little legacy here on Aya.

“I don't think I could ever get used to how beautiful it is here” the silence felt stifling and Julie found herself trying to talk about anything in order to break that silence. She had never done well when she felt like she had done something wrong or messed up. Babbling on had become a way to try to get herself out of awkward situations, though so far instead of working it had only made things worse to date.

“It really never wears off. I've been here 15 years and there isn't a day that goes by that Aya’s beauty doesn't amaze me” the man chimed in absentmindedly, startling Julie, she had not actually expected him to answer.

“15 years? I thought there was a lottery for people to live here”.  _Were some people just allowed to live here? Oh god did I just trip over someone really important?_ Julie panicked,  _This is how I lose my job, I've finally done it._

“There was. Now that your Pathfinder has killed the Archon the kett threat aren't much of a threat. The governor has started with plans to expand Aya so the lottery has been dissolved” he shrugged.

“But they just dissolved the lottery, how could you stay here for 15 years?” Julie asked.

“Brought here for medical attention when I was 10. Had nowhere to go after, no family so they let me stay until I was technically an adult, and then I made myself valuable to the agricultural science team. Lottery be damned if you prove yourself necessary” he explained.

“So you're a scientist?”  _Oh god that sounds important, you did it this time, one day here and you've already done it._

“Of sorts” he said.

They sat in silence for a few minutes while Julie stewed in her panic and embarrassment, wondering if it was better just to leave the man be until the people he called came to help or try to keep talking to him.

“I'm Julie, by the way” talking was the better option she decided. After she tripped over him she felt like she should at least introduce herself.

“Ajaa” the man replied.

They remained in silence until two angaran men, presumably the two that Ajaa had called, for rounded the corner.

“Over here” called Ajaa.

The other men quickly made their way over to where they were sitting.

“Making new friends?” One of the men asked with a smirk.

“Not quite. It knocked me over when it tripped over me” Ajaa answered flatly.

“Ahhh, so that's what messed you up this time” said the same man. The other man did not seem concerned as if this sort of thing was just part of the daily routine, which Julie hoped meant that this really was not such a big deal.

“Stretch your legs out so I can find the problem” the second man told Ajaa.

“So help me Sivus, if you shock me again we’re going to have a problem” Ajaa growled as the man named Sivus began to poke and prod at his legs.

“What? You prefer to sit her and wait to see if the nerves reconnect on their own?” Sivus asked without looking up from examining Ajaa's legs.

“I'd prefer if you brought me to the clinic and let a doctor do this” Ajaa growled. Julie still could not get a good reading on him. Talking about Aya he had been fairly calm and level, though now she could see his temper rising like when she had firs knocked him over.

 _Please don't be to mad, please don't go to the ambassador and complain and have me moved back to the Nexus,_ Julie said as a silent prayer to whatever higher powers might possibly be listening in Andromeda. 

“Hey, that's not fair. You're the one who wanted one of us to learn how to do this so you wouldn’t be going to the clinic twice a week” Sivus answered still without looking up.

“And every time I wish I would have asked Allya” Ajaa added.

“Well, that's too bad for you isn't it? Now you're stuck with me feeling up your legs instead” Sivus smirked.

“Just make sure you don't make Paalka jealous” Ajaa teased back.

“Please, he knows you're not my type” Sivus rolled his eyes, but still smiled

“Yeah, not a threat” the other man, apparently named Paalka.

“Now I'm just offended” Ajaa said, feigning hurt feelings.

“Dating you would be like dating a family member, just not right” responded Sivus.

Sivus continued to guide his hands along Ajaa’s legs in an attempt to find whatever was causing the problem this time. After a few minutes he withdrew his hands and scowled. “It looks like it's your back Ajaa. Stop leaning on that wall and pull your shirt up a bit so I can find the problem”.

Ajaa huffed, but complied with Sivus’s request. He scooted forward off the wall in a somewhat undignified manner and tugged the back of his shirt up so Sivus could kneel down behind him and check his back.

His back was horrifically scarred from what little bit Julie could see, most of it being a single horrifying scar poking out from the bottom of his shirt surrounded by what looked by puncture wounds.

Sivus began the same process he did on Ajaa's legs Ajaa’s back, running his hands along Ajaa’s spine until he found what he was looking for. “Here” Sivus said, “It feels like the impulses are being stopped right about here”.

“Well bridge the gap so I can get off the ground” growled Ajaa.

“Something's got you in a mood today” Sivus teased, his hands gave off a soft glow as he pressed them against Ajaa’s back and Julie could feel a slight crackle of electricity in the air.

“I just want to finish what I was working on” Ajaa nearly snarled, apparently growing impatient with Sivus's teasing.

“No need to get snippy, and you know the drill. No strain for a bit after the neural connection is reestablished” Sivus said as he put his gloves back on.

“I'll be fine” Ajaa said as he immediately tired to get back up again.

“No. Kneeling on the ground hunched over a flower bed is not what you need after this. I even managed to managed to restore the connection without shocking you, you're not messing it up again. Paalka will help you home and I'll clean up here and get the stuff back to the lab” Sivus said firmly while Paalka nodded in agreement.

“Fine” sighed Ajaa, though he did not seemed thrilled by being out voted on the situation.

Julie watched as Sivus and Paalka went to work. Paalka reached around Ajaa’s waist and gently helped him to his feet, allowing Ajaa to rest his weight against him as they started to walk off. Sivus busied himself neatly packing up the equipment and sproutlings that Ajaa had been planting.

“Is he going to be alright?” asked Julie, breaking her silence for the first time since Sivus and Paalka came.

“What? Ajaa? Yeah, this happens a few times a week. It's not fun, but it's nothing new either” Sivus answered without looking up from what he was doing.

“I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to trip over him” Julie apologized again.

“Look, there's no reason to apologize to me, I'm not the one you tripped over, and as long as you apologized to Ajaa everything should be fine. He really has almost no anger in him honestly” Sivus shrugged, clearly not concerned by the situation.

“That's good. It's my first day here and I really wasn't looking to make enemies”.  _Oh thank god he's probably not too mad._

“Oh I'm sure you have enemies: you're a human on Aya, plenty of people don't like you, and that's not even counting the remains of the Roekaar here” Sivus said almost too casually considering the implications.

“Should I be worried?” Julie asked, a mild sense of concern welling back up.

“If you're out in broad daylight in busy areas probably not" Sivus shrugged as he finished packing up everything else, "I really doubt anyone would try anything since Evfra has made it pretty clear that he wouldn't tolerate anything like that. The last thing Evfra wants are more issues and the last thing anyone else wants is an angry Evfra”.

“Who’s Evfra?” asked Julie. The way Sivus referred to Evfra she felt like she probably should have known, but never too late to find out she hoped.

“The Resistance leader. He's a grumpy son of a bitch, but a good leader” Sivus smirked, “The human Pathfinder made it pretty clear she was here to help and she delivered on that so Evfra agreed that no harm would come to your people on Aya, so I wouldn't really worry about it.”

“Do you work with Ajaa?” Julie asked in hopes of trying to figure out how much trouble she could get in if Ajaa complained to the embassy.

“Yeah, Ajaa, Paalka, Allya, and I all work together down in the main agricultural labs. We’re trying to increase crop yields to support a growing population. We figure with the kett just about gone we’re going to get a population boom so we’re trying to get a leg up before there's any sort of shortage” he said.

“That's pretty interesting, any breakthroughs?” Julie asked. It seemed a bit odd just how casually Sivus was giving her so much information, though maybe he was just friendly.

“A few little things, nothing revolutionary yet though, but we have time" he answered.

“What was Ajaa working on here?” she asked.

“Seeing if we can get adhi’s eyes to grow here. They're native to Havarl and so far all of our specimens have been dying not long after we plant them, too much light on Aya and the soil acidity is all wrong, and all the rain keeps resetting everything once we have the soil balanced out. We think we’ve finally got a solution in this planter so Ajaa was trying to get that going" he explained.

“You don't mean the actual animal’s eyes, do you?” it seemed odd, but then again with all the weird things she had heard about this cluster she did not rule out that actual eyes might sprout.

Sivus laughed and cracked a wide smile, “Of course not! After the flower blooms it leaves behind a berry that kind of looks like an adhi’s eye, hence the name”.

“I'm sorry if that was a dumb question” Julie murmured.

“Any question asked out of true curiosity is never dumb” Sivus reassured her. “I’ve got to get going, otherwise I'm sure Allya will be annoyed being left alone in the lab. Oh, and if you see Ajaa around you should try to talk to him. He won't admit to it, but he's curious about all of you from the Milky Way, though he's always too busy to actually sit down and talk to any of you”. 

“If I see him, I will” Julie said, though the thought of trying to talk to him after knocking him over was a bit daunting.

“It'll do him some good. And I never caught your name”. Sivus smiled.

“Julie”  _Please don't use that against me and go have me removed from the planet_ , Julie panicked internally.

“Good to meet you Julie, enjoy Aya and try not to attract the wrong kind of attention” he warned a little too cheerfully for Julie's liking.

Julie watched as Sivus strolled off. _What did he mean by the wrong kind of attention?_ He had said she probably had already made enemies on Aya just being a human there, which was making her skin crawl especially after seeing how everyone reacted to her tripping over Ajaa.

She quickly gathered herself and continued making her way to the apartment that the Nexus had secured for her while she was on Aya studying.

She had been brought out of Cryo not long after first contact with the angara as one of the sociologists brought along by the Initiative to study new alien societies and how best to get along and connect with them. Julie had been excited when they finally sent her to Aya instead of having her lurk around the Cultural Exchange and interview the angara who chose to move the Nexus, but now she could not seem to shake the nagging feeling that had settled in her stomach from Sivus’s words.

Julie hurried home, more concern this time about who was watching her instead of taking her time to explore and enjoy Aya.

 _Surely Sivus was just being dramatic_. She had not noticed anyone giving her bad looks or talking about her until she tripped over Ajaa, and even then it had nothing to do with the fact she was human, just clumsy, hopefully.

 _There’s not point of getting worried or worked up. Nothing has happened yet and might not  ever happen,_ Julie reassured herself. Tomorrow was going to be a new day, her second day on Aya and her first day actually getting work done. It was the beginning of a new and exciting chapter, she refused to let a threat that might not even be there drive her into hiding before she got to experience what she left the Milky Way to do.


	2. Things of the Past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Julie's first day of working and interviewing has given her some conflicting views while she learns about Aya and it's people.

Julie hoped her second day would not be as eventful as her first one.

Step one was making it to the Repository of History without another fiasco, which should have been easy but there was always time to mess things up. She had planned to meet with the curator in order to get a better feel for angaran culture as a whole before she even tried to figure out all differences between people, surely in broad daylight there would not be any problems getting there.

The walk from her small apartment near the landing bay to the Repository was peaceful. There was a certain serenity about Aya, always a faint bubbling and splashing from the waterfalls, calls and songs from wild creatures, and all the colors and smells from the flowers, Julie wondered if all the worlds with the Remnant vaults would be like this one day with all of them working now, terraforming the surfaces of the planets. _It would be nice to settle down somewhere like here_ , she mused idly as she pictured what Eos might look like one day.

She rounded the corner of the gardens and spied Ajaa was in the same spot as yesterday, kneeling down next to the planter to finish planting the sproutlings.

“Hey” smiled Julie, hoping Ajaa was not made about yesterday, “How are you feeling?”

Ajaa looked up to see who was disrupting his work, “Ahh, the human who used me as a speed bump yesterday, watching where you’re going today?” he asked, though Julie did not detect any annoyance or malice in his voice, in fact he actually seemed to be smiling a bit. 

“I’m really sorry about yesterday” Julie apologized again, hoping this meant she would be keeping her job.

“It’s still alright, I kind of figured out you weren’t out to get me or anything” Ajaa smirked. He had a nice smile, it was good to see him not sort of grumpy or in pain.

“Hey, could I ask you a few questions?” Julie asked, now seemed like as good of time as ever to start interviewing people, even if was the people she had mistakenly mowed down the previous day.

His smile faded immediately.

 _Oh no,_ Julie panicked,  _is it an angaran thing? Is it impolite just to start asking questions? Or is it Ajaa and he's actually still made about yesterday and just trying to be nice?_

“Depends, is this going to get weird? Because there were a few salarians here a couple days ago and they got a little intrusive with me” he asked flatly.

Julie could not help but laugh with relief. _Salarians, no wonder he's hesitant to answer questions._   _S_ he had met several salarians, all nice for the most part but definitely a group of people who could occasionally get a bit over excited with questions. “Yeah, most of our best scientists are salarians, always lots of questions. But don’t worry, nothing like that, just hoping maybe you could help me with some work”.

“And what kind of work is it?” he asked.

“I work with the Cultural Exchange on the Nexus. We want to try to bridge the gap between the Milky Way cultures and the angara, try to best understand the differences between us and avoid any faux pas so to speak, but that means really understand who the angara are and who better to talk to than an angara?” Julie smiled, trying to cover up how robotic her spiel came out.

“Well, as long as my genitals stay out of it this time I have no problem with it” he did not seem like he was joking.

“Purely cultural questions” Julie reassured him.  _Yeah, sounds like salarians._

“Very well” he conceded.

Julie paused, she did not actually have any questions planned. She had planned on visiting the Repository of History and doing her own research on the basics before even trying to interview any of the angara, but she could improvise, she supposed. “Where did you live before Aya?” she began, starting off with something simple.

“I was born on Havarl in a smaller daar, it was mostly just a research outpost” he answered blankly.

“And did you come from a large family?” Julie continued.

“Do adhi chase their tails?” he asked back in the same flat voice.

“I don't actually know” she said.

“That is a yes. To both” he sighed. Something seemed to be bothering him.

“Do you visit your family often?” she asked.

Ajaa paused, seeming to recoil from the question. “Next question” he said without a hint of emotion.

 _Strike one_. She did not know where to go from there. From what little she had gleamed from the angara who has opted to live on the Nexus supposedly family was one of the most important things to the angara, and apparently not a good subject for Ajaa.

“Do you believe in reincarnation?” Julie asked cautiously, hoping that was not a sore subject too.

Ajaa took a deep breathe, “I’m not sure. I've definitely seen something from the past, I don't know if their memories”.

“You've had some kind of dream or vision?” Julie asked.  _Now this is going somewhere._

“Not recently" he began, "but when I was younger I saw things when I would visit the Repository. Images of a great city floating in space. It was beautiful, there plants I had never seen before, technology that must have been from before the Scourge, I never saw people, but I heard them speaking a language I did not know”.

“How many of these visions did you have?” Julie asked.

“I'm not sure, five or six maybe” he shrugged.

“And they just stopped one day?” she asked, hoping he would continue.

“I reached a part in the visions where something big happened, something changed and I was never able to see past it. I think I died then”. His tone was very matter of fact, more like he was making small talk and not sharing that he might have seen his death in a past life.

“You saw your death in a past life?” Julie asked in disbelief , partially at the implications of what he could have seen and partially because it seemed like a big deal to be telling someone you just met about it.

“Maybe. I'm not sure what happened exactly. In the last vision I had I entered a room and people were talking to me, I could hear their voices but I never saw them. They asked me something in the language I don't know and I responded, I don't know what I said but I felt sure of it and whatever was going on. I laid down on the table in the room and closed my eyes, then there was just a feeling of peace. I think I went there to die” he shrugged.

Julie took a deep breath, unsure what to think of this man she barely knew telling her about this. “That's incredible, a little scary, but incredible” She answered, unsure what to make of the visions. “Have you spoken to anyone about it?”

“The old curator at the Repository. He told me not to worry about the visions, that it's not uncommon to see parts of a past life, something about the relics there being able to trigger memories” he explained.

“And you think you saw your death?” she asked again.

“I'm still not sure, but something about what happened felt final. It was a cold and sterile room, but there was a comfort to it, whatever was going on was because I wanted it to” he shrugged a bit to nonchalantly considering the topic.

“And you're sure it was a medical facility?” she asked.

Ajaa cocked his head to the side and took a moment to think. “I don't know. I think so, I remember a table, and many monitors, and some sort of pod, but that's it.”

“Do you remember what was on the monitors or anything about the pod?” she prodded.

“I think there were vitals on the monitor, but they weren't mine for sure, well I think, and there was another angara in the pod, at least I think. I don't know, I suppose it doesn't make a lot of sense” his voice fell at bit.

“That's alright. I think that's enough questions for now, I'm sorry if I brought up anything I shouldn't have” Julie said, suddenly aware of just how personal all of this probably was.

“It's alright. I haven't thought about the visions for a long time. Maybe one day I'll figure them out”. Ajaa smiled weakly, “I'm sure you have better things to do than just pick my brain”.

“It was interesting talking to you, maybe we can chat again tomorrow?” she asked.  _So at least he seems like he's not mad about anything, that's good._

“I think I'd like that. It's good to talk to someone that hasn't been caught up in this damn kett war" he seemed to be perking back up at least, "Let me give you my contact information, you can let me know tomorrow when you have the time to talk, maybe I can even show you around Aya”. Ajaa pulled up the interface on his own communicator allowing Julie to copy down and translate his information with her omni tool.

_Full name: Ajaa Na Rova. Age: 25. Born: Tarshae daar, Havarl. Current Location: Aya. Occupation: agricultural scientist. Contact frequency: 6251.43_

“I'll give you call tomorrow when I can” Julie promised him.

“I look forward to it”. He smiled again, he really did have a nice smile.

Julie headed towards the Repository, taking her time to stroll through the rest memorial gardens to read the plaques dedicated to all the angara who died fighting the kett. Eighty years of war against an enemy that turned your own people into the enemy. Eighty years of families being torn apart and saying goodbye to people knowing it might be the last time you see them. There were very few angara were alive who remembered what things were like before kett, and there was not anyone alive who was not affected by the kett.

It was a short, and luckily uneventful, walk to the Repository. Julie was more aware of people watching her today after Sivus’s warning yesterday, more aware of people’s whispers, but at least no one tried anything.

The Repository itself was impressive, it was not a large building, but the amount of history crammed into such a small space was astounding. Julie was greeted by the curator when she got there, a young angaran women named Avela who never seemed to stop moving.

“Welcome to the Repository” Avela called without looking up from the helmet she was examining as Julie entered the Repository.

“Hello” called Julie back, “the Nexus sent me. I'm supposed to talk with you to get a feel for angaran history before I start doing interviews”.

“Ahh, they told me to expect someone to come by, but not when or who" she said without looking up, "Anyways, I loaded up that console in the corner with some basics on angaran history, values, beliefs, and anything else culturally important. Go ahead and skim through that and we can discuss it when you're done”.

“Oh, okay. Thanks”. Julie had been hoping for a little more interaction than sit quietly in the corner and read.

“Is there something wrong?” asked Avela.

“Oh no! Just can't wait to actually discuss all of this with an actual angara” Julie smiled, reading everything then talking to Avela really was not a bad way of doing things.

“Haven't had a chance to talk to anyone yet then?” Avela asked.

“Well, I met a few people yesterday and I was able to chat with one of them for a bit today, and I'm meeting up with him tomorrow to ask him some questions actually” Julie told her.

“Making friends already, that's good” Avela smiled, she seemed like a nice, albeit very busy, woman. “If you don't mind me asking, who were you talking with?”

“Ajaa Na Rova”. Julie said.

Avela closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. “Oh boy. I wouldn't really consider him a good indicator of average angaran values”.

“What do you mean?” asked Julie. she was not sure why, but Avela's tone made her defensive about Ajaa. She did not know much about him, but he seemed nice enough.

“Don't get me wrong, Ajaa’s a good man" Avela began to explain, "but losing your family so young and then being raised without family sort of skews your view on things. It's not a bad thing per se, but you're never going to hear him talking about the importance of family or anything. It sort of sets him apart”.

“Oh” Julie looked down at her feet, _Now it makes since why he didn't want to talk about family earlier. S_ he felt a bit bad for asking Ajaa if he ever visited his family when they spoke earlier. “Do you know if there's anything else I shouldn't bring up around Ajaa?” she asked, hoping to avoid upsetting him the next time that they were able to chat.

“The Resistance, the Roekaar, reincarnation, and don't bring up his injuries but if he mentions it first you're probably alright” Avela listed off.

“He doesn't like the Resistance?” Julie asked,  _Now that seems odd._

“He likes them now that Evfra is in charge, but before that is another story. The Roekaar is a sore spot in general, don't bring them up. And unless you’d like to spend way too much time on things that are probably not true I'd avoid bringing up reincarnation” Avela rolled her eyes at the last part.

“You mean the visions he's had?” Julie questioned.

“Stars, did he tell you about them?” Avela seemed exacerbated at the idea.

“He mentioned them this morning, do you not believe in reincarnation?” asked Julie.  _I thought pretty much all angara believed in reincarnation._

“I believe in reincarnation, I've spoken to people who have visited here and the relics have sparked memories of the past for them. There's no doubt that people can see parts of a past life, but Ajaa?” Avela shook her head, “I have no doubt he truly believes he's seen a past life, but I think it's just a child’s imagination mixed with a lot of stress from what he was going through at the time”.

“So you don't believe him?” Julie asked.

“He was young when it happened, maybe 11 or 12 years old, just lost his family, was under a lot of stress from his injuries and the surgeries, and I'm sure he would have had some strong pain killers. Plus, what he saw doesn't line up with anything anyone else has ever seen” Avela explained.

“So you think he made it up?” asked Julie, starting to feel more defensive over Ajaa.

“I think he saw something. But it was probably just a child’s imagination mixed with stress and pain medication”.

“Oh” muttered Julie, backing off.

“Look, I'm not trying to bad mouth him or anything, he's a good man, probably better than most, but he can be a bit of an outlier on most things” Avela said.

“No, I understand. I should read the stuff you set up for me” Julie said, hoping to avoid anything else tense.  _Better than knocking someone over, but not exactly a smooth start._

The rest of the day passed without anything else eventful. Julie learned more about angaran family structure and how differently angara on different planets developed. She learned how angaran law was centered around not necessarily the crime committed, but by how many people it affected and how much it affected them. She learned about how much of their history they lost when the Scourge hit 300 years ago, and while all of that was fascinating it was not quite what she was looking for. she wanted to know the people, how people actually lived and who they were.

“Did you have any questions on anything?” Avela asked as Julie began to pack up her things from where she was sitting at the console.

“I don't think so, the stuff you left me to read was pretty thorough, and it's getting late anyways and I wanted to explore Aya before it got dark” Julie called back.

“Alright, if you ever have questions feel free to drop by” Avela smiled gently. She seemed like a nice enough woman, though Julie was not sure about she felt about the way Avela spoke about Ajaa though.

Julie made her way form the Repository towards the central market. She hoped it would still be open when she got there since she had not had the chance to visit yesterday after she had unpacked her things and checked in at the embassy. The walk was relatively short, and at least the market was on her way home.

Yesterday, or even this morning, she did not notice how tired everyone looked like how she did now. Aya might be beautiful but the angara were still a people who had spent eighty years fighting a war. People passed by her covered in scars, or limping, or just looking like they lived through hell.

She had just reached the edge of the market when she heard a familiar voice.

“Hey! Human Julie!” Came Sivus's voice from across the square.

Julie smiled, she did not know much about Sivus, but he seemed like a decent person so far if not bizarrely too cheerful.

“Hey Sivus, doing some shopping?” she asked.

“Yeah, seeing if there's anything interesting to eat. You can only live on nutrient paste for so long until it gets to you” Sivus smirked, he seemed to like to smile a lot.

“No Ajaa or Paalka?” Julie asked.  _I suppose just because they all work together doesn't mean that they're always all together._

“Nah, Paalka is still at the lab and Ajaa finished up early and went home, I think his legs were bothering him” he answered absentmindedly.

“Because of yesterday?” Julie asked, feeling a bit guilty.

“Because he's Ajaa. He tries to hide it, but he's never doing as well as he pretends to be. Try not to feel too bad for him though, it's sort of a pet peeve for him” Sivus said.

“I'll try to remember that” Julie answered.

“I heard you bumped into Ajaa again today, well not actually bumped into him this time” same cheeky smirk on Sivus’s face that he seemed to like to wear.

“No, I've learned my lesson about looking for kneeling angara” she joked back.

“And you're meeting up tomorrow?” he asked.

“Ajaa told you?” she asked back.

“Of course he did. That man has exactly three friends, if anything interesting happens in his life we know” Sivus said with a slight laugh.

“Yeah, he's answering some questions, sort of an interview. The Nexus stationed me on Aya to try to learn more about angara, learn how to better get along and bridge the gaps between us” she told him.

“Huh, not a bad way to do it I suppose. But if you're going to interview more people though be careful who you chose, there are plenty of people here who aren't happy with the Milky Way presence here on Aya” Sivus warned, though he seemed more serious about it today than yesterday.

“Do you really think anyone would try anything?” Julie asked, hoping that Sivus was making it sound worse than it actually was.

“It's hard to say for sure, but better safe than sorry, there has been a few incidents” he said.

“What kind of incidents” Julie asked cautiously.

“Nothing too bad, throwing rotten fruit, petty theft, yelling, but still, I don't want my people to be a part of another war. I don't want the Roekaar and their sympathizers to start something with your Initiative. I'm not trying to scare you, but I do worry about what could come from all of this” he answered.

“I figured. I don't want the Initiative and your people to fight either” Julie said.

Sivus smiled, much more genuinely than his usual smirk. “It's getting dark and if you're on your way home would you mind if I walked with you just in case?”

“I was going to check out the market first” she said.

“They're pretty much done for the day. Make Ajaa show you around the market tomorrow” he said.

“If you insist” Julie smiled.  _That does sound nice._

“I do. Ajaa has wanted to learn more about you Milky Way people and you seem like a good person for him to learn from. I’d rather you chat with him that way I know you won't get scared off by fanatics” she said.

Sivus walked with Julie the entire way back to her apartment, making small talk and pointing out a few of the interesting things about Aya. It was nice to walk with someone friendly and just absentmindedly chat about nothing at all. She had hit the ground running after coming out of cryo, immediately going to work with the Cultural Exchange before being shipped of to Aya, it was nice to just breathe now.


	3. The Universe Doesn't Care About Your Scars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Julie is finally able to have a real conversation with Ajaa and start getting some answers about the angara and take Ajaa up on his offer to show her around Aya, learning about much more than she thought she would for her first real question session with him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I can't write consistent length chapters to save my life. I will probably never write consistent length chapters.

Day three.

The little apartment the Nexus had secured for Julie still did not feel like home. It was little more than a sitting room, a bedroom, a bathroom, and a tiny kitchen. Size was not an issue, the Initiative had pretty strict rules as to how many belongings could be brought to Andromeda, fitting her few things into the apartment was not a problem but everything felt so bare.

_Maybe I can see if Ajaa or Sivus can get me a houseplant or something_ , Julie mused. Maybe something alive would make the apartment feel a little less bare and lonely.

Breakfast was a quiet affair as usual, a meal bar and what might have been juice at one time before being reduced to a dubious powder. Maybe once the colonies were up and running a bit more some of the produce they were growing might make its way to Aya and maybe even get to be real juice.

Julie wished she would have just set a time to meet up with Ajaa yesterday instead of having to guess what the best time to call was. _Was he a morning person? Would it be alright to call now? It's probably too early, plus he's probably at work. Maybe around lunch time would be best?_

Instead, Julie busied herself reorganizing her kitchen, moving the glasses closer to the sink, then moving them back to where they were before. Changing the drawer with the silverware to the drawer on the other side of the sink, then subsequently changing the plates and bowls to the cabinet above the silverware. Things still did not feel quite right, not quite home.

It was 10:30am by the time Julie finally decided that the kitchen was as good as it was going to get and it was time to at least start getting ready. Showering only took a few minutes, the Nexus had pretty strict rules on water usage and even after moving off the Nexus some habits stay. Getting dressed was a trickier task, Aya was warm, it would be nice to wear shorts but Julie had only seen the angara there wearing long pants and shirts with long sleeves.

_Did angara not like showing skin? If that was the case would they care if I wore shorts? Would it be rude or would they just write it off as ‘alien differences’? I'll just wear long pants and ask Ajaa about it._ Julie ultimately decided before tossing on a pair or workout pants and an Initiative shirt.

She ran her fingers through her hair, trying to detangle it and help it dry faster. During her first two days on Aya she had heard a few comments about her hair, curiosity about how it felt or how it was maintained and if letting the angara feel her hair and ask questions about it would help bridge the gap between their cultures, well then that was what it would take.

It was only 11:15am. _Was that still too early to call?_ Julie wondered. Surely not, it was almost lunch time, Ajaa had to be awake by now.

Julie read through Ajaa’s contact information again, _Full name: Ajaa Na Rova. Age: 25. Born: Tersha daar, Havarl. Current Location: Aya. Occupation: agricultural scientist. Contact frequency: 6251.43_

Twenty-Five, close to her age, though to be honest all of the angara looked about the same age to her. Angara aging, another question to ask Ajaa about. Julie brought up the interface on her omni tool and made a note to ask Ajaa about aging and anagran attitudes about showing skin.

She started leafing through the data from Avela that she copied down while she was at the Repository. No data on aging or acceptable amounts of skin to show. She skimmed the sections on reincarnation again, it was astounding concept if it was real. Julie hoped it was real. It was a comforting idea, that one day you could be united with loved ones and live another life, even possibly remembering past lives. She made another note to remember to ask Ajaa more about reincarnation.

_Why are you putting this off?_ Julie asked herself. Why go through data again when there was an angara she could ask. Ajaa was friendly, he wanted to chat with her, he even offered to show her around Aya. He was ideally what she needed for an interview, to get a more personal view on the angara, someone she could get to know, a friend who would give her everyday view of Aya.

Calling Ajaa was easy enough, just connecting to his communicator frequency and waiting on him to pick up. There were a few moments of silence while Julie waited on the call to connect before she heard his voice.

“ _Hello?”_ Said Ajaa.

“Hey, it’s Julie, I hope I didn’t catch you at a bad time”.

“ _Just finishing up recording a bit of data for Allya. What’s up?”_

“I was hoping you had some time to talk and take you up on that offer to show me around Aya”.

“ _Sure, just give me thirty minutes to finish up here and get up there. Meet by the adhi’s eye planter in the Memorial Gardens?”_

“Sounds good, see you soon”.

There was a soft click when Ajaa disconnected the call.

And there it was, her first actual interview, and maybe her first friend in Andromeda. Waking up in a new galaxy proved to be a lonely experience once the initial wonder wore off for Julie. The first few days on the Nexus had been exciting, she woke up to learn not only had they made it to Heleus, but there had been first contact with a new species.

From the first moments out of cyro she was working, a data pad thrust into her hands about what little they knew about the angara and told to do what she could to help the angara on the Nexus transition over to living amongst Milky Way species. She liked the angara, they were a strong people, heads held high in the middle of a war, a very honest people, but the more she spoke with them, the more she realized that she missed her family.

Many angara all asked the same questions: what was the best way for them to keep in contact with their family? It was an easy question to answer, angaran communicators could easily reach back to the angaran worlds, and the Nexus had set up video terminals on both the Nexus and the angara worlds. Plus there were fairly frequent shuttles so the angara on the Nexus could visit their families.

But what about the Initiative members who left their families a galaxy and 600 years away? What does someone do when they know they are alone in a new galaxy, that everyone they knew were dead and gone and there was nothing anyone could do to change that? For Julie it meant smiling through her day, making sure the angara on the Nexus felt welcomed and comfortable, and going back to her little apartment on the Nexus with the crushing realization that she was utterly alone.

Being on Aya was helping at least somewhat, it was the same rush Julie had felt when she first woke up on the Nexus, there were too many new and exciting things to see and do to feel lonely. Ajaa was helping too, a friendly face to talk to made her feel more connected with Heleus at least.

Julie set off to meet up with Ajaa, she would rather get there early than make him wait for her. It was only a quick walk to where they were meeting, the same place she had tripped over him on her first day on Ajaa. She got there with about 10 minutes to spare which gave her some time to just sit and enjoy Aya.

People watching on Aya was interesting. There was such a beautiful variation to the angara, there was a merchant near her apartment whose skin was grey with pale green marks on his head and face, then there was Sivus and his pastel blues and greens, Paalka with his rich pink and red hues, and then there was Ajaa; for the most part his face was a deep sapphire color with lighter blues around his cowl and deep purple speckles on the top of his head that trailed down his nose. Julie did not know what the angaran standards of attractiveness were, but she could admit that Ajaa was pretty nice to look at.

She spent her time waiting just taking in the sights, from the plants to the people, Aya was beautiful.

“Hope I didn’t keep you waiting too long” came Ajaa’s cheerful voice.

“Only a few minutes, I live close” said Julie.

“Take a walk with me? I’ve been sitting in the lab for too long, need to stretch my legs”. Ajaa reached out his hand to help Julie up.

Julie grabbed onto his hand to get up. “Sure, can we swing by the market though too? I haven’t had a chance yet to go see it”.

“Sivus mentioned this morning that you wanted to visit the market”.

“Is he always like that?”

“Like what?”

“Just so involved in everything”.

Ajaa sighed, “He has a habit of just trying to look out for people, you get used to it. And what are today’s questions, I know you didn’t invite me here just for my charming personality”.

“Ahh, you got me, ulterior motives” Julie smiled. “I did have a few questions, but I figured we could just chat too so I could get a feel for you and for the angara in general”.

“Fire away”.

“This is more of a practical question for my sake, but it there any reason angara are always so covered up? I wanted to wear shorts today, but I felt like it might be a bit weird since I haven’t seen any angara wearing shorts or anything”.

“If you’re worried that you’re going to offend someone over showing your legs, don’t worry. Most people opt for more covering clothes in case they need to toss on armor in a hurry, years of war have left the angara wary”.

“But isn’t Aya pretty secure? And with the Archon gone the kett really aren’t a threat anymore, right?”

“Old habits die hard I suppose”. Ajaa shrugged. “ Longer clothes help with environmental issues too. Angaran skin is sensitive, too much moisture in the air and skin gets irritated, too little and skin dries out and cracks, it’s just easier to cover up most of the time”.

“So I can wear shorts and no one would care?”

“You can wear shorts”.

“Oh thank god”.

“My turn” said Ajaa, “I have my own questions”.

“That’s only fair”.

“Do all humans have hair?”

Julie smiled, “Pretty much, some have more than others, some people lose their ability to grow hair when they get older, but yeah” she trailed off. She was enjoying the walk towards the market, it was nice just to stroll and chat with someone. Technically it was still work, but it was a pleasant change from the formal interviews she had conducted on the Nexus.

“Huh, interesting” commented Ajaa. “Anymore questions?”

“What do you think?”

“So I’m not getting off the hook that easily?”

“Of course not. I have a job to do you know. I have have another practical question, or at least my own personal curiosity. So you’re twenty-five, and I’ve seen some angara who are way older than twenty-five, but you look the same age”.

“Look the same age? Do humans still change how they look once they’re adults?”

“Well, yeah. Hair turns white, skin loses its tightness, stuff like that when humans get old”.

Ajaa cocked his head to the side, “That’s bizarre”.

“So you don’t really age?”

“We get older, eventually die, but we don’t change color like humans”.

It was only a short walk to the market from the Memorial Gardens, filled with questions from both of them. Mostly general questions about each other’s species and a few jokes. Ajaa was easy to talk to, very warm and friendly, and he liked to smile a lot.

The market was small, no more than a few stalls carrying raw materials, weapons, armor, and produce, but it was still nice to visit.

“Think anything here is safe for you to eat?” asked Ajaa.

“According to the Nexus everything should be safe, just might not taste good. Apparently there might be some differences between human and angaran taste buds”.

“Might be some differences? We’re definitely testing that”. Ajaa grabbed onto Julie and pulled her over to one of the stands selling fruits and bought a large red-orange fruit. It looked fuzzy, sort of like a peach, but larger like a grapefruit.

Ajaa led Julie over to one of the fountains and sat them down on the small wall before handing Julie the fruit as he began to take off his gloves. “This is a laia fruit. It’s the sort of thing you get picky kids to eat because it’s incredibly sweet, liken sickeningly sweet” he took the fruit back from her and handed her his gloves before digging his fingers into the top of the fruit and peeling it with a bit of difficulty from his shaky hands. “If anything is a good baseline it’s this”.

“And you’re not lying to me, it’s not actually super sour to you or anything?”

“I promise, would I lie to you?”

“I’ve talked to you twice before”.

“Fair point, I promise I’m not lying, but I have no clue what this’ll taste like to you”.

“Fine”.

“Here,” Ajaa held the fruit up to Julie’s face, “my hands are already a mess from the fruit, no need for you to be sticky too”.

Julie tentatively bit into the fruit. Texture of mango, flavor of soap. “Oh Fuck! That’s terrible!” Julie began spitting the fruit out onto the ground, cussing loudly the whole time.

Ajaa was howling with laughter, nearly to the point of falling off the wall of the fountain. “That was so much better than I thought it would be! How does it taste?” he had to stop to wipe a tear away from laughing so hard.

“Like soap you asshole!” Julie reached down into the fountain and splashed Ajaa a bit.

“Hey! No need for that!” he laughed, “Look, I didn’t know what it would taste like to you” he was grinning still as he started eating the fruit.

Julie could not help but smile, the fruit might have been revolting, but the experience of just hanging out with someone after spending the last few weeks feeling so alone was exactly what she needed.

Ajaa looked happy too, he was still smiling and laughing in between bites of fruit, his eyes got squinty when he laughed and there were juices running down his chin. He finished off the fruit and tossed the peel into a nearby garbage bin before sitting back down by Julie on the wall. “I’m sorry the fruit tasted bad, but it was a noble sacrifice for science”.

“You just wait until I bring you some human food for you to try, then we’ll see how funny it is”.

“I’ll try anything you bring, so worth your fruit reaction”. Ajaa rinsed off his hands in the fountain and dried them off on his pants, “Can I have my gloves back?”

“One condition: let me see your hands”.

“If you’re going to do  the thing where you hit me with my own hand, I’d rather you just shove me into the fountain or something”.

“If you weren’t like twice my size I’d consider it, but I actually just want to see your hand”.

Ajaa tentatively held out a hand, a bit unsure as to what Julie was up to.

She took his hand. It was the same dark blue as his face with purple speckling on the back of his hand and much larger than hers.

“Do you have three fingers or five?” Julie asked.

“Technically five, functionally three”.

“Do you know why?”

“Is that rhetorical where you’re going to tell me, or an actual question? Because I have no clue why evolution decided that my people should have three fingers fused together”.

Julie keep running her fingers over Ajaa’s hand, his skin was pretty thick, almost hide like, but there was a soft almost velvety-ness about his skin. “No, I was hoping you knew why. It doesn’t seem very advantageous to have three of your fingers fused. Does that make some fine motor movements hard?”

“Have you not noticed that my hands pretty much always shake? Most fine motor skills are hard and it’s not the fused fingers that are the problem”. His smile faded.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to bring anything up”.

“It’s fine. I’m used to it”. Ajaa took a deep breath, “I’d rather you forget that my hands shake and everything that’s up with me and ask questions like that instead of tip-toeing around it like everyone else”. He pulled his hand away from her’s. “Can I have my gloves back?”

Julie handed him his gloves, regretting not picking up on his hands shaking earlier. She had already known about his legs and back, she noticed his hands shaking when he peeled the fruit, but she had not put it together.

“Maybe that’s enough for today” Julie said.

“Why? Because you asked a question? Things happen, people say things without thinking or realizing and if I got all bent out of shape every time I’d be a pretty miserable person. Plus, I said I’d show you around Aya”.

“Where to next?”

Ajaa stood up and held out his hand to help her up “The best view in Aya” he smiled.

Julie took his hand and let him help her up, “Now we’re talking”.

The left the market and moved along the central path in this part of the city, making their way past the little restaurant in the middle of the city and the Repository of History.

“So where exactly is this place?” asked Julie.

“Just a little farther ahead, it’s by the Resistance headquarters” answered Ajaa.

They rounded the corner from the Repository and followed the path through a tunnel in the rocks.

“Wow, this is beautiful” Julie said, admiring the water running down the sides of the tunnel and the plants growing along the walls, “Is this natural, or carved out?”

“Carved out I believe, the city was built into the slope of an extinct volcano, much of the rock is cooled lava, so it’s pretty easy to carve”.

“It’s amazing regardless”.

“It really is”.

There was a comfortable silence between them during the last leg of their walk from the tunnel to an outlook next to the Resistance headquarters.

“This is what I wanted to show you” he gestured out to the planet below. “The lava fields. It’s beautiful in a odd way. That here in the city everything is so lush, and the planetside directly around the city and behind us is all dense jungle, and then there’s that”.

Julie looked out, the lava stretched out as far as she could see, occasionally disrupted by dying volcanoes and fire whirls, a stark juxtaposition to the jungle around them.

“Is it the vault that keeps this area green?” she asked.

“Probably, though Aya is highly volcanic even with the vault active so maybe this is how the planet is always supposed to be”.

“It is kind of beautiful in a way”.

“It has always put things into perspective for me” Ajaa began, “ever since I was little I liked to sit here and just think about things. It always amazed me that something so beautiful could exist amongst so much destruction, but the lava doesn’t mean to destroy things, it’s just the natural order. And as the volcanoes die and the lava cools the land is renewed, plants grow in the soil, they reclaim the scorched ground and life still finds a way, that the lava is what gave the ground the nutrients the it needed to support life and what created these mountains. It showed me that destruction doesn’t have to be an end, but that it can lead to beginnings too, and that sometimes there are things that are bigger than any of us, that regardless of who you were or what you have gone through that we are all part of something bigger and the universe doesn’t care about your scars”.

“Deep thoughts for a kid”.

“I had a lot of time to just sit and think when I was little”.

“It’s a good perspective on things” Julie looked up at Ajaa, “I like it”.

They stood in the same content silence for a while just watching the landscape and Julie mulled over what Ajaa had said. She had a feeling it was more personal than he was letting on, that it was about his injuries and recovery maybe, or perhaps about the angara as a whole. Either way, it was a good perspective on life.

“I promised Allya I wouldn’t be gone for too long, I should be getting back to the lab” Ajaa said, breaking the silence.

“We should do this again sometime” Julie said.

“I’d like that. It’s good talking to someone who hasn’t been caught up in this war, or the politics, or who treats me like I can’t do anything. You seem like a good person Julie, I hope I can call you my friend”.

“Same,” smiled Julie, “You’d be the first friend I’ve made in Heleus”.

“That would be an honor” Ajaa smiled back, “but for now I need to head back, I don’t need a lecture from Allya about shirking off to go have fun when everyone else is working. Give me a call the next time you’re free, I’m sure you still have questions to ask”.

“I will”.

“See you next time”.

“See you, Ajaa”.

Julie watched Ajaa walk off, noticing for the first time the slightly stiff way his legs moved when he walked. She still was not quite sure what had happened to him, but that was a conversation for another day. For now she was just happy to have a friend in Andromeda. Sure she did not have time talk to him about reincarnation more, or ask him about getting a houseplant, but those were things that could wait, for now she was more focused on that fact she felt a little less alone in this new galaxy. Ajaa may only be one person, but it was a start.


	4. Work and Play

It was a bit of a walk back from the overlook to her apartment, though about the time Julie reached the Repository she realized that she really did not want to head home yet, instead she ducked into the Repository to see if Avela had time to answer any questions.

Avela was buzzing around, picking up and sitting down relics as she made notes on several datapads and talked to herself.

“Hey, Avela” began Julie, trying not to startle her, “I was wondering if you had some time to maybe answer a few questions?”

“I’d love to normally, but your Pathfinder just had some very interesting relics shipped over from Voeld. Apparently they managed to break through a wall of a cave and found a labyrinth of rooms that haven't been touched in hundreds of years! Since before the scourge!” Avela told her excitedly.

“Wow, that's amazing” smiled Julie, “Whenever you get done studying them I’d love to learn about them”.

“Of course! But it'll have to wait, I'm going with an archeological team to Voeld to see everything firsthand! I've got a few days to study these relics and then we head out for a few weeks!” Avela was absolutely beaming at the prospect of being able to see so much angaran history for herself.

“You'll have to tell me all about it when you get back” Julie said.

“Of course I will” smiled Avela.

“Though can you maybe point me to anyone who might be willing to answer some questions?” asked Julie.

“Hmm” mused Avela, “Not sure of anyone in particular, but you're welcome to hang around here and ask anyone who comes it”.

“That's alright, I don't want to hang around and get in your way or anything” Julie said, “Seems like you've got a lot to do” she added with a smile as she made her way back out into the bright sun of Aya.

She had only taken a few steps before she heard someone call her name.

“Julie!” came a voice from behind her.

She turned to see who was trying to get her attention. It was Ajaa and Sivus’s friend from the other day, the one who had helped Ajaa walk home.

“Hello!” she called back cheerfully.

The large angaran man quickly caught up to her. “Picking Avela’s brain today?” he asked.

“I was trying to, but she's a bit too busy for that today” she answered, “and what brings you up here?”

“Dropping off some reports for the Resistance, medical applications of plants mostly” he shrugged.

“Sounds pretty important” Julie remarked.

“Sort of, a lot of it was stuff people already knew that we just never actually tested, old wives’ tales, y’know?” he said.

“Ahh, alright,” Julie said, “I'm sorry, I know we met sort of, but I can't remember your name at all” she apologized.

“That's alright. I'm Paalka, I work with Ajaa and Sivus” he smiled.

Paalka was tall, even on angaran standards, standing a few inches taller than anyone else that Julie had met. His shoulders and chest were broad and he seemed to be very well muscled, it made Julie wonder why he was working on a science team instead of fighting in the Resistance.

“You wouldn't happen to have time to chat for a minutes, would you?” she asked.

“I could kill some time” he shrugged, “we can chat while I'm on my way back to the lab”.

“Great!” Julie smiled, “I don't know if Ajaa has mentioned it, but I'm supposed to be learning more about the angara for the Initiative to make sure there's no big misunderstandings or anything” she explained.

“Ahh, a bit of a scientist too then” said Paalka, “So what are you interested in learning about?”

“Everything I can, the more we know the better we’re hoping that the Initiative and the angara can get along” she said.

“Well, that's pretty vague” Paalka noted, “And what about you? What do _you_ actually want to learn about?” he asked.

“I don't know, I guess I really just want to know who the angara are” she said.

Paalka laughed a bit, “So just curious in general. Nothing wrong with that”.

“Could I ask you a few personal questions? I just want to get to know people for now” Julie asked.

“Sure” Paalka smiled.

Julie smiled back at Paalka, he seemed nice in the same was Ajaa and Sivus were. “So where are you from?” she asked.

“Voeld, a daar called Raesha. It was mostly just a civilian town, quiet most of the time, well hidden” he said.

“Kett didn't bother you?” Julie asked.

“Didn't know we were there. Everything was built deep into a cave system, no one really came or went, just occasional supply drops from the Resistance” Paalka shrugged.

“Sounds pretty isolated” she said.

“It was. There were a lot of people there, but people there were scared, kept to themselves, never left, but it was safe at least” Paalka said, “It was nice there though, there were lava flows under the rock so it was pretty warm at least”.

“I thought angara liked the cold” Julie remarked.

“Most of us don't like the heat, doesn't mean we want to freeze to death” he answered.

“Sounds like you got lucky and got to grow up somewhere safe at least” she said.

“Yeah, I suppose. Don't get me wrong, Raesha will always be my home, but there were problems there I'm glad I got away from” he trailed off.

Julie searched to a response to him, not sure what to say. “I suppose no where is perfect” she finally managed.

“Sorry, didn't mean to dump that on you. And it's not as bad as I probably made it seem” Paalka sighed, “It was warm enough there where we didn't need heat lamps, which sounds great, but the lamps aren't just for heat, angara need electromagnetic energy in order to thrive. Normally sun exposure is more than enough, but the people of Raesha were always to scared to go outside and the leaders refused the lamps the Resistance tried to give us, I think they were so sick and weak they didn't even remember that we needed electromagnetic radiation anymore”.

“So what happened?” asked Julie.

“My people were sick and weak, dying, and too damn scared and ignorant to do anything about it” growled Paalka. “I used to try to run outside when I was little, I'd heard the Resistance fighters talking about how we needed sunlight and I just wanted anything that might make me feel better. My family kept me under a constant watch, they thought I was crazy and wanted to die or something” he gave a bitter laugh, “I'd begged the Resistance fighters to take me away with them, they always pat me on the head and sadly tell me this was my home, I belonged here. Family is important to angara, so important that they'd let kids fucking die in that cave instead of separate families”.

“I'm sorry Paalka” Julie reached out to touch his arm, remembering what she had learned from the information Avela had given her the other day, angara were an open people and liked physical contact.

“It's in the past, I did what I could to help them and one day the Resistance decided I was useful enough to be brought here. My health has improved being on Aya, though my immune system will never be great after 20 years of damage”.

“I'm glad you're doing better at least” Julie said, trying to find a silver lining in everything.

“Thanks, it's been a while since I've talked about my family and all that, didn't mean to off load all that on you” Paalka apologized.

“That's alright, I did say I wanted to get to know people” Julie smiled. She had not realized how far that they had walked from the Repository until Paalka stopped in front of a freight elevator.

“Lab’s down on the planet floor, won't drag you down there” Paalka told her. “I know you've been chatting with Ajaa, and Sivus already told me that Ajaa got you to try laia”.

“That was like 30 minutes ago, how the hell does everyone know already?” Julie asked.

“Ajaa and Sivus are close, so Ajaa tells him everything, and the Sivus passes everything along to me” he shrugged.

“So you three are close?” she asked.

“Yeah, Ajaa and Sivus have been friends for years, and Sivus and I are together. Sivus likes to joke about me and Ajaa having to share him” he smirked. “But on a serious note, Ajaa doesn't make friends easily, well he could if he wanted to, but he gets anxious about losing people he's close to so now he just doesn't get close to people. He likes talking to you so far, and it's good to see him happy, but if you're just on Aya for work and leaving soon don't let him get too attached to you. Just better that way”.

“No, I get it” Julie said, she really did not know how long she would be on Aya, the Initiative had stationed her on Aya indefinitely though now that Aya was allowing settlers she might just be able to live there. She joined the Initiative alone and had not spent enough time on the Nexus to really make friends with anyone there, it would be easy just to stay on Aya, “It would be nice to stay here, I don't have anyone back on the Nexus waiting for me and Aya seems like a good place to start a life in Heleus” Julie smiled.

“Well, if that's the case you should come by the lab later, come see what we actually do, and I don't think you've met Allya yet, have you?” he asked.

“I haven't” she said.

“Come by later today, we usually leave around sundown, maybe 7pm or so, so come by maybe around 6:30? I'll keep Ajaa there so you can surprise him” he said.

“Surprise him?” asked Julie.

“He'd like it. We’re down in building 5c, go through the doors on your right when you get out of the elevator and follow the path all the way back, you'll see it, it's the only building surrounded by farmland” he told her.

“I'll come by later then” Julie smiled.

They parted ways at the elevator. Part of Julie was surprised to learn that Ajaa was not always this open and friendly, that apparently Ajaa was typically kept himself pretty walled off from people. She could not help but smile to herself, something about Ajaa liking to talk with her made her quite happy.

She strolled back to the market, she did not really have the chance to explore earlier with Ajaa like she had planned to, but it was still pretty early in the day. The same women was still standing behind the stand where Ajaa had bought the laia fruit earlier, she had giggled when Julie tried the fruit and had been watching them a bit with a smile, she seemed like someone who might answer some of Julie’s questions.

Before Julie managed to make it to the stand she heard a loud voice approaching her and the pitter patter of small feet.

“Mooooom! It's a human!” came a young voice from behind her, “Look! It's like the Pathfinder!”

Julie turned around to find an angaran child that barely was as tall as her hip looking at her with curiosity. “Hello” Julie said with a smile to the child.

“Hi! Do you know the Pathfinder?” the child asked.

Julie went to answer, but before she had the chance an angaran women quickly ran up to them, “Taeli! Don't run off like that!” scolded the woman, “I’m sorry, she's always been a friendly child” the women smiled.

“That's alright” Julie told her, “And I don't know the Pathfinder unfortunately” she told Taeli.

“Don't bother the human” the angaran woman said as she scooped up her child.

“That's alright,” said Julie, “I'm actually supposed to be talking to people and learning about the angara for the Initiative, I'd love to talk with you two if you have a moment”.

“I wanna talk to the human” wailed Taeli, trying to struggle free from her mother’s grasp.

“I have some time” said the women as she sat the child down.

“Wonderful, I'm Julie by the way” she introduced herself.

“Amra” the woman said. She stretched her arm out in front of her, “It’s an angaran greeting, here” she gently reached out and took Julie’s wrist to bring her arm up to rest against hers, “Any angara will be surprised you know that, it'll do you good, shows you've taken the time to learn about us” she smiled.

“Thanks, I'll keep that in mind” Julie smiled back, “Is Taeli your only child?”

“Of course not!” Amra laughed, “I have three more at home with my wife Setta, Taeli is our little ball of energy, had to get her out of the house while the others were napping before she woke them up”.

“Do you know Jaal? He travels with the Pathfinder!” chimed in Taeli.

“I don't know him either” Julie told Taeli, “I know a few people here on Aya though, I know Sivus and Paalka and Ajaa”.

“Ajaa is nice” smiled Taeli, “He always has candy”.

Julie covered her mouth as she giggled a bit, there was something very endearing about the thought of Ajaa carrying around candy.

“Ajaa has a sweet tooth,” Amra explained, “He always has bits of candied fruit with him and the kids noticed, now the kids follow him around whenever he's working up here”.

“Yeah! And he knows about plants!” Taeli added.

“I'm going to go visit Ajaa where he works later to see all the plants he's growing” Julie said.

“That's cool!” Taeli said with wide eyes.

“Ajaa does well with kids, he's patient with all their questions and he takes the time to explain whatever he’s working on so they can understand too” Amra began, “I can't believe he's not married, he's a sweet man and so good with kids, but he's already 25. If he has any hope of having a family he really should get started”.

Julie furrowed her eyebrows, it seemed like a rather personal topic to be discussing. And was it really so strange to be 25 and not starting a family?

Luckily before the topic could become more uncomfortable Taeli started to tug at her mother’s hand and yawn, “Are you tired my little one?” Amra said as she picked up Taeli, “Ready to go home?”

The little girl nodded and rubbed her eyes.

“It was nice to talk to you Julie, perhaps we’ll bump into you again sometime” Amra smiled.

Amra seemed nice enough, maybe everyone on Aya just knew everyone else's business and gossiped. 

Julie spent the rest of her day wandering the market and the adjacent areas finding people who did not mind chatting with her. For the most part things went smoothly, except for one younger angara who snarled at her and called her  _ vesagara _ . The word did not mean anything to her, but it angered an older man who happened to be walking by at the time.

“Didn't your mothers teach you any manners?” the older man asked.

“They taught me to fight for our home, that means not letting these aliens just invade!” the younger man snarled.

“And if it wasn't for these aliens the kett probably would have killed us all by now. Either learn some manners or learn to keep your mouth shut” the older man said calmly.

“When they turn on us too all of you will finally see what's going on” the younger man said as he left.

“I'm sorry about that,” the older man began, “There’s still some Roekaar sympathizers around, ignore anyone who calls you vesagara, I promise that most of us are glad your Initiative is here”.

“Thanks, a friend told me to be careful but I really didn't think I'd run into anyone like that” Julie said.

“They're cowards, people like that wouldn't dare do anything in public, but that guy knew this area was more isolated and didn't think an old man was going to stand up” the man said with a smile, “I might be old but I'm not dead yet”.

“I'll make sure to stick to busy areas” Julie nodded. This time things had just been a bit uncomfortable, and the other man seemed like he was all talk, but it was not hard to imagine that things could have gotten bad.

Julie parted ways with the kindly man and began to make her way back to where the freight elevator was, making sure to keep to the busy well lit areas. It was a luckily uneventful trip there, a few people watched her as she waited for the elevator, though they only seemed to watch in mild curiosity. The freight elevator moved slowly and creaked but seemed safe enough and before long the doors slide open revealing a cargo bay that opened out to the planet floor. A few more people looked on in curiosity, though no one approached her.

“5c, 5c,” Julie mumbled to herself, “everything is in Shelesh, don't know what I was expecting” she raised her omni tool up to each building sign to scan and translate them, eventually making her way to the last building. It was a small building surrounded by farmland, just as Paalka had described.

The door was not locked and Julie let herself in.

“Julie!” came Sivus’s excited voice as he bounded over to her, “Paalka said you'd stop by to see Ajaa” he said with a smile. “He's in the dark room working with climbing stars, but you haven't met Allya yet!”

Sivus quickly grabbed Julie's arm and led her through the door in the back out into the fields surrounding the building.

“Allya!” he called, “Julie is here!”

“Over here!” came a woman’s voice from around the other side of the building, “I'm coming!” she called again before rounding the corner.

Allya looked tired, her gloves coated in dirt, but she was smiling, “So you're the one that the guys keep talking about, good to meet you”.

“It's good to meet you too” Julie raised her arm up like Amra showed her earlier, hoping it was the right thing to do.

Allya laughed, “No need to be formal! Come here” she said as she pulled Julie into a hug, “It took years for Sivus years to befriend Ajaa, took Paalka a few months, and it took me a few weeks, but it only took a few days for you. It's good to see Ajaa starting to relax more”.

“Apparently it just took tripping over him” Julie joked.

“Whatever you're doing has worked” Allya smiled, “I won't keep you here, I know you came to see him”.

Julie blushed a bit, she had not come specifically for Ajaa, but it would be a lie to say that she was not happy that she would get to talk to him again.

“I'm sure Sivus wouldn't mind if you came with us for drinks after we’re done here, would you Sivus?” Allya said as he elbowed Sivus in the side.

“Of course not! Anyone who can befriend Ajaa is more than welcome to come over for drinks” Sivus chided, “Enough of that for now though, Ajaa still doesn't know you're here”. Sivus led Julie back in and pointed her to another door, apparently leading to where Ajaa was working.

“Ajaa?” Julie called as she opened the door. It was dark in the room, just lit by the strange soft glow of plants that had climbed the walls and ceiling.

“Julie?” came Ajaa’s voice from somewhere behind the tables in the room, “What are you doing here?”

“I bumped into Paalka earlier today and he said I should come by and see what you've been working on. I've got to say, this is actually pretty beautiful” Julie said in amazement. The room had almost entirely overtaken by climbing vines, most of the leaves on them were large normal leave, but about a quarter of them had several points and were emitting a decent glow.

“They're called climbing stars” came Ajaa’s voice from behind the tables, “They're native to a few caves on Havarl, the plant normally don't glow, but these specimens have actually formed a symbiotic relationship with a local bioluminescent bacteria! It's rather fascinating, the plants can actually get enough light to live just from the bacteria!”

“That is pretty interesting, but why are you down there behind the tables?” she asked as she walked over to where Ajaa was laying behind the tables.

“I thought it would be nice to lay down and look up at them” Ajaa told her.

“I'll join you, it does sound nice” Julie laid down next to Ajaa. The ground was hard and cold, but there was something peaceful about laying there looking up at the plants, they really did look like stars. “How long have you been laying here?”

“Thirty minutes, I can't get up” Ajaa said, sounding rather embarrassed.

“Legs?” asked Julie.

“Legs” confirmed Ajaa.

“Should I get Sivus?” she asked.

“Yeah, I thought I could wait it out and get up, I was very wrong” he mumbled.

“I'll get him, be right back” Julie said as she got back up to get Sivus.

_ Great time for her to come by, when you're stuck on your back like a kaerkyn,  _ Ajaa growled to himself. He had not actually decided to lay down in the lab, he had slipped and fallen, landing hard enough on his back to disrupt the neural connection and leave him stranded, but he felt to pathetic to actually admit that to Julie.

It was only moments before Julie and Sivus returned.

“Alright Ajaa, what did you did this time?” asked Sivus.

“Nothing, just can't get back up” Ajaa lied.

“Well, that sounds absolutely fake but alright” Sivus said as he knelt down next to Ajaa, “can you roll over so I can get to your back at least?”

“Yeah, I can” muttered Ajaa as he rolled onto his stomach.

“Alright” began Sivus as he lifted up the back of Ajaa’s shirt like he had done the other day.

“Do you really have to do that?” asked Ajaa.

“What? Lift your shirt? It's easier to find where the impulses are being stopped, you know that, and I really don't think Julie cares about your scars” said Sivus as he lifted up Ajaa’s shirt.

“That's alright, I can wait outside” Julie said as she went to leave.

“It'll just be a minute, sorry” said Ajaa.

Sivus waited until he heard the door close behind Julie, “Do you really think she'd care about your back?” hissed Sivus? “I'm pretty sure she saw your back the other day when she tripped over you anyways. You like talking to her, she likes talking to you, just chill out”.

“It's off putting, I know she probably saw my back before but it doesn't mean I like it” hissed Ajaa back.

“Just hold still” said Sivus as he directed his own bioelectric field and use it to bridge the gap in Ajaa’s nerves to get the impulses flowing again, “Can you wiggle your toes?” he asked.

“Yeah, thanks” muttered Ajaa, he rolled back onto his back and sat up.

“C’mon, I'll get Paalka and we’ll all head up to and grab drinks, it'll do you some good” Sivus said as he gave Ajaa a pat on the back.

“Yeah, sounds good. Maybe Julie will forget that I got stuck on my fucking back” he mumbled.

“That's the spirit, nothing some tavum can't fix” Sivus told him.

It was a longer walk back up than Julie remembered. Sivus led the group, often walking backwards and gesturing with his arms excited my as he spoke. Ajaa walked with Paalka’s support, his arm over Paalka’s shoulder and Paalka's arm around his waist to hold him upright. Allya walked next to Julie, smiling and chatting about what their team had been working on the past few months.

“Home sweet home” Sivus announced as the reached the door to an apartment, “Not much, but cozy, make yourself at home” he told Julie.

Paalka deposited Ajaa on the couch before following Sivus into the kitchen to help with drinks, he wrapped his arms around Sivus’s waist from behind for a moment and kissed the side of Sivus’s cowl while they smiled and laughed over something before Paalka went to get a few glasses for their guests.

“I don't suppose you've had tavum yet, have you Julie?” asked Allya as they settled down on the couch next to Ajaa.

“No, I haven't. What is it?” she asked back, trying to get comfortable in between the two angara.

“The base is distilled from fruits, then it's mixed with an extract from the leaves of the ahdi’s eye plant, it’s an intoxicant” explained Allya.

“So alcohol?” asked Julie.

Allya shrugged, “If that’s what it's called in the Milky Way”.

“Alright!” chimed in Sivus as he and Paalka made their way into the main room, arms laden with glasses and bottles, “No work tomorrow! It's still early, time to have some fun!”

“I don't think rest days extend to us” Ajaa said, finally speaking up. 

“You heard Paaran Shie, Fev and Bav are rest days again like how they were before the kett invaded, that definitely extends to us” said Paalka as he sat everything down on the table in front of the couch.

“Allya?” asked Ajaa.

“If Paaran Shie says they're rest days then they're rest days, I've got no problem with a few days off” Allya shrugged.

“We’re not fighting a war anymore, we can actually afford to have down time now” Sivus said as he passed out glasses to everyone, “I'm going to guess you haven't had tavum before, have you Julie”.

“I haven't, though Allya was just telling me about it” Julie said.

“That's fine, I've seen the human Pathfinder drinking it, so it must be safe for you guys, just got to find what to mix it with for you,” Sivus looked over the bottles he and Paalka had brought over, “Ajaa already mentioned you didn't like laia so we’ll skip the laia juice”.

“Try neffa juice” chimed in Paalka.

“Yeah, maybe everything is all backwards to you,” Sivus reached for a bottle full of something green and uncapped it, “does this smell sour or sweet to you?” he asked Julie as he passed her the bottle of juice.

Julie took a tentative sniff, hoping that Sivus was not messing with her, “Sickeningly sweet” she said.

“Well, better than sour” shrugged Sivus.

“Mix it with laia” suggested Allya.

“Now that's an idea” Sivus busied himself pouring together some of the neffa and laia juice together and handed the glass to Julie, “How's that?”

“Sweet, but not too sweet” Julie said. 

“Good, good” Sivus reached out to take the glass back, “And this is Tavum, don't drink it too quickly” he said as he topped the glass of juice off with it.

Julie took a sip of her drink, the tavum gave it an earthy bitterness but it was mild, and the burn from tavum was a lot less intense than Milky Way alcohol.

“It's stronger than it seems,” warned Ajaa, “And you're smaller than us, don't worry about finishing it”.

The others mixed their drinks, Sivus and Paalka both drinking mostly laia juice with a bit of neffa mixed in with the tavum, Ajaa chose just the laia and tavum, and Allya just mixed the tavum into hot water. 

“So, Julie,” began Sivus, “Why spend 600 years traveling here? Milky Way got boring?”

“Something like that actually, there wasn't really anything left there to study, well for me anyways. I did research for interspecies cultural studies, but there was a lot less to do than I hoped. I got an offer to join the Initiative to help with first contact should there be any and I signed up without even thinking about it. It's funny how you can make a big decision without even realizing what you've done until it's too late” Julie said somewhat sadly. It is not a good feeling to wake up in a strange place and realize everyone you have ever known was in another galaxy and long dead.

“It must be exciting though” smiled Allya, “So many new things”.

“It is. The first thing anyone told me when I woke up was that we had made contact with a new species and they needed people to learn about them and help a few adjusting to living on the Nexus” recounted Julie.

“Well, at least you've been busy, I heard there's been people on the Nexus for over a year with nothing to do” said Allya.

“Yeah, I suppose. Can we talk about something else though? Just feeling a little homesick” asked Julie.

“Of course” smiled Allya.

The night passed by pleasantly, Julie finally managed to sit back and relax wedged between Allya and Ajaa on the couch. Sivus and Paalka were cuddled together on a large armchair-like piece of furniture, smirking and not so subtly sneaking kisses, too intoxicated to notice that everyone else noticed them. Julie struggled to keep her eyes open, fighting the pleasant sedative-like effect of the tavum. It was different than alcohol, her mind still felt clear and she was pretty sure her balance was still intact, but it was pleasant.

Julie realized that at some point she had started leaning on Ajaa, not that he seemed to mind. She had nestled her head against the front of his shoulder and curled up against his side and some time during the night Ajaa had draped his arm over her shoulder. It was comfortable and rather cozy.

The next time she was aware of what was going on it was dark. Julie woke up, the side of her face resting in Ajaa’s lap as she stretched out on the couch. There was no sign of Allya, Sivus, and Paalka, though the slight snoring coming from the bedroom suggested that Sivus and Paalka had gone to bed.

Julie sat up and moved Ajaa’s arm off of her side, feeling a bit odd about sleeping on Ajaa’s lap.

Ajaa grumbled as he woke up, “The sun’s not up yet, what are you doing?”

“Heading home” Julie told him.

“It's dark out, it's not safe for you to go out by yourself” Ajaa grumbled.

“Then walk me home” she said.

“Not really possible right now, sleeping upright on the couch didn't really do wonders for my back” he said.

“What about Sivus and Paalka?” Julie asked.

“What about them? It takes me a bit even after the nerves reconnect to be able to walk on my own, you saw Paalka half carry me here. And they're asleep, I don't trust Sivus to try to reconnect nerves after he's been drinking” Ajaa said.

“Couldn't one of them walk me home?” she asked.

“If either of them is coherent enough to walk. You passed out before everyone else, everyone else kept drinking. Plus if you go in there to wake them up I make no guarantee that either of them is wearing pants” he said, “Just go back to sleep”.

Julie went to lay back down the other direction on the couch so she would not use Ajaa as a pillow again.

“You can just lean on me, I really don't care” Ajaa said.

“Just didn't want to invade your personal space” she said.

“Personal space,” Ajaa snorted, “Angara don't mind being close with friends and family. Just seems more comfortable to lean on me. Plus you're really warm and it kind of feels nice”.

Julie blushed a bit, it had been comfortable sleeping against Ajaa, and if he did not mind it either then it would be alright she told herself. She laid her head back down on his lap and work on getting comfortable again. Ajaa placed his hand on her back and gently began to trace circles absentmindedly.

It had been an interesting first few days on Aya, but at least the people were nice.


	5. Differences

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is what you get because Bioware didn't really tell us much more than the basics for angara, so I've taken liberties and straight up made things up because Bioware is slacking

Julie felt something tugging on her hair. It was a gentle tug, but enough to rouse her from her sleep. Her eyes fluttered open, her head was still resting in Ajaa’s lap and Ajaa had picked up a large section of her hair and seemed to be examining it closely.

“Hey, Ajaa? Any reason you're grabbing my hair?” Julie asked, alerting Ajaa to the fact that she was awake.

He quickly released her hair, “Sorry, hope that wasn't crossing a line, is it alright to touch a human’s hair?”

“Typically better if you ask, but you didn't do anything offensive, don't worry” Julie smiled.

“Your hair, is it soft?” he asked.

“You can feel it” Julie smiled.

Ajaa returned his hand to her hair, running his gloved fingers through it several times.

“You can take your gloves off to feel it” Julie told him with a bit of a laugh, there was something very sweet and endearing about Ajaa’s fascination with her hair.

“Oh no no no, that would be highly inappropriate” Ajaa quickly said.

“Yeah, and he already fucked up yesterday at the market” called Sivus from the kitchen.

“What?” asked Julie.

“I shouldn't have taken my gloves off yesterday when you asked to see my hand” Ajaa said.

“Why?” asked Julie.

“Because you smelled like him for the rest of the day” called Paalka from across the room.

“And the problem with that is..?” asked Julie.

“Let me put it this way: have you ever seen an angara not wearing gloves”? asked Sivus back.

“Well, no” Julie said.

“So biology and social convention 101,” Sivus began as he and Paalka made their way back to the main room, “angara have scent glands in the base of the palms and under the sides of the jaw. We won't touch around someone else's face and neck unless we’re close, as in relationship close. Gloves stay on in public, or really around anyone who isn't family or intimate. Following?”

Julie nodded.

“So anyone who happened to notice Ajaa take off his gloves yesterday to show you his hands wouldn't know what was happening, that you just wanted to see his hands. It looks pretty intimate on angara standards, not to mention that anyone who was close to you afterwards would absolutely notice that you smelled like an angara even if they didn’t recognize who you smelled like. Understand?” Sivus asked.

Julie felt the blood rush to her face. She visited Avela after parting ways with Ajaa, then there was Paalka though he did not really count, there was Amra who did not say anything but surely she would have noticed, there were all the people she chatted with and the man who called her _vesagara_ and the older man who had stood up for her. _Oh god half of Aya is going to get the wrong idea,_ Julie panicked.

“I talked with a lot of people yesterday” Julie muttered.

“Well, now a lot of people probably think you've been getting awfully close with an angara” smirked Paalka.

“That's not a good thing! I'm supposed to be here to learn about angara to help avoid any interspecies incidents, not cause one!” Julie said loudly.

“Calm down, no one is going to really care whether or not you're with an angara. Your Pathfinder is with an angara, a top lieutenant in the Resistance actually, and the only people upset about that are his little fan club and Roekaar sympathizers” shrugged Sivus.

“I don't want to be known as the human the Nexus sent to learn about the angara and instead is sleeping around or something!” Julie said, getting even louder.

“I'm sorry” said Ajaa, finally breaking his silence. He looked upset as he just stared down into his lap, “I don't know why it didn't occur to me then, I should have told you I'd show you my hands later away from people and told you to wash your hands well afterwards since obviously you didn't mean anything by it” he trailed off.

“That's alright,” Julie told him, “So it’s not good to smell like someone else?”

“It's perfectly fine to, but it implies a lot of closeness, touching around someone’s face is off limits unless you're together, and if you're touching someone with your gloves off it's because you want them to smell like you and for everyone else to know it” Ajaa explained.

Sivus chimed in “It's fine for me to smell like Paalka, hell I probably always smell like him, but no one cares because honestly who would care anyways? No one cares if you smell like your partner, that's the whole point”.

“Awesome. So everyone I talked to yesterday thinks I'm with someone then?” asked Julie.

“Probably” shrugged Paalka, “but it’s not really a big deal, don't let Sivus and Ajaa scare you. Everyone on Aya smells like someone else”.

“Yeah, but everyone else here is an angara, not a human who’s only been here a few days” muttered Julie.

“It'll be fine, I promise” Paalka reassured her.

“And not that I don't enjoy having you two around,” began Sivus, “but it's my day off and I'd really like to spend it with Paalka’s undivided attention”.

“Yeah, like you slept last night anyways” teased Ajaa.

“Oh no, he did" grumbled Paalka, "A glass and a half of tavum and he's knocked out and there's not a damn thing I can do about it”.

“Alright, we get it, we’ll make ourselves scarce” Ajaa said.

“Why don't you show Julie around? Unless you've already got plans” Paalka suggested.

“Maybe later, if she'd like to, but for now I need a little help” said Ajaa, “Don't think I can really get up”.

“Why didn't you say something before?” asked Sivus as he got up to help Ajaa.

“Julie was asleep still, didn't want to wake her” he shrugged.

“Yeah but the longer the nerves are disconnected the worse it is, you know that” scolded Sivus, “Lean forward so I can get to your back”.

Ajaa complied, leaning completely down so that his chest was against his legs and Julie turned her back towards him, assuming Ajaa would want the same privacy as yesterday. A few minutes later Paalka was helping Ajaa stand up and hobble to the door and their little group made their way from Sivus and Paalka’s apartment over to Ajaa’s.

“And you're sure you're alright if we leave you alone? Because you didn't really walk here as much as Paalka dragged you here” Sivus asked, giving Ajaa a concerned once over.

“I'll be fine, just need time to rest” grumbled Ajaa. He hated when people fussed over him, for fifteen years he had been dealing with his nerve damage and most of the time dealing with the recovery on his own anyways.

Ajaa unlocked the door to his apartment and Paalka carried him in and deposited him on the couch, “Just call us if you need anything, alright?” Paalka told him.

“Yeah” muttered Ajaa.

“I'm serious,” Paalka said, “This is two days in a row with your nerves disconnecting and you let it go for a few hours this morning. You're our friend, we’re here to help” he gave Ajaa a pat on the shoulder as he turned to leave with Sivus.

“Hey,” Sivus whispered to Julie, “He's not alright but he's just going to get grumpy if Paalka and I insist on staying around and I know he won't call, if he falls or something he's just going to lay on the ground because he's stubborn and hates when he thinks people are fussing over him. I'm not saying offer to stay over to help, but can you try to do something to stay until he's alright?” he asked, peering around Julie to try to see how Ajaa was doing, “Look, I’m probably asking a lot and you don't know any of us too well, but he likes talking with you and if you tell him you're not doing anything else and you want to ask more questions or something he'll probably go for that”.

Julie gave him a nod, “I'll try”.

“Great, just give me a call if you need anything, here's my info” Sivus pulled up the interface on his communicator so she could copy it to her omni tool.

_Sivus Kerra. Age: 26. Born: Eljarav, Havarl. Current Location: Aya. Occupation: agricultural scientist. Contact frequency: 8352.62._

“I'll see what I can do” Julie said as she finished copying down the information.

Sivus and Paalka left, leaving Ajaa’s apartment awkwardly silent as Julie took a moment to look around from where she stood. There were plants on many of the available surfaces surrounded by various lamps and scientific instruments, apparently Ajaa liked to take work home with him. It felt cozy and much more homey than her apartment.

“So Ajaa,” Julie began, “Do you have time to talk? I have some questions about tavum and some other things we talked about before”.

“I suppose, not like I'm going anywhere anyways” he shrugged.

It was a relief when Ajaa did not shoo her off and Julie quickly made herself comfortable on the couch next to him, “So, are the plants here for work too?”

“No, just things I was interested in that the government here was not interested in funding the agricultural team for. Technically we only were supposed to get funds for studying how to increase crop yields and how to get more food plants to grow in different environments, eventually we got clearance to work on the study of medicinal plants though technically we’re still classified as an agricultural team” he explained.

“How did you get interested in all this?” Julie asked, it was clear that his work was much more than just a job to him, that there was something strong that drove him.

“The daar I lived in on Havarl was studying how to weaponize neurotoxins found in plants into nerve gas to use against the kett,” he started, “Ever since I was born my parents brought me to the labs with them, I grew up around things like this, it just felt right to do the same sort of things here” he trailed off. His face fell, his family was obviously a sore subject.

It only seemed right to comfort him, Julie reached out and placed her hand on his shoulder and gently rubbed circles.

“That's part of why my hands shake” he began again after a few moments of silence, “I know by now someone has probably mentioned what happened, I swear there's not a damn person on this planet who doesn't know my life’s story” it came out as a bitter laugh, “During the kett attack on my daar some of the experimental nerve gas leaked out and I got exposed to it. There was nothing anyone could do after the damage was done, I just got lucky that it wasn't strong enough to kill me and instead I just have shaky hands and get seizures sometimes”.

She knew he had lost his family at a young age from talking to Avela and she figured it was probably in a kett attack, but hearing him talk about it was a different thing entirely.

“And yeah, the scars are from that too. Well from the attack, not the nerve gas” Ajaa said, filling in the blanks, “I got caught in some sort of blast, got hit with a lot of shrapnel from behind. It severed a lot of my spinal in my lower back, some of the sensory nerves are alright, but just about all the motor nerves were cut”.

 _Great going,_ Julie scolded herself, _He already doesn't feel great so let's bring up his dead family and injuries!_ Julie leaned against him, resting her head against his shoulder like how she had the previous night, “I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bring all that up”.

“It's fine, I've explained it hundreds of times probably, you get a bit numb to it eventually” he said blankly.

They sat in silence for a few minutes and Ajaa took the opportunity to drape his arm around Julie shoulders. Without even realizing it Julie leaned all of her weight against him and relaxed as she felt Ajaa running his fingers through her hair again.

“Why do humans have hair?” Ajaa asked as he continued to play with her hair.

“It used to be for warmth and it was all over. Now it's just decorative” Julie told him.

“I like it” Ajaa said. Julie could feel the vibrations in his chest from him laughing a bit, it was a relief to know that he was not dwelling on their last conversation and was feeling a bit happier.

Julie bit her lip and wondered if it would be alright, “You can touch it without your gloves”.

“I don't want to put you into an awkward situation” Ajaa said, though his hand lingered entwined in her hair.

“It'll be fine, I think I've got some perfume in my bag, worse comes to it I’ll just spray down with it” she smiled, “Go on”.

It was odd to Ajaa to be taking off his gloves, he could not remember the last time he had been close to someone like this and it was leaving him feeling excited and nervous with a knot in his stomach. He took off one of his gloves and tentatively ran his fingers through her hair, “It's a lot softer than I thought it would be” he said in amazement as he continued to figure her hair out.

A sigh escaped Julie’s lips. After 600 years asleep and a few weeks of being very busy, but rather alone, the physical contact now was the most content Julie had felt since waking up in Andromeda.

“Happy?” asked Ajaa.

“Yeah,” sighed Julie, “It feels nice”.

“I'm glad you're happy” he smiled.

Julie buried her face into his chest so he would not see her blush as she felt her face heating up. She felt him hug her against his chest while he continued to play with her hair.

“I could fall asleep like this you know” Julie said.

“Take a nap if you want, I don't mind being a pillow again” he offered.

“Sivus just reconnected your nerves, you don't need me sleeping on your lap again” Julie said, a bit disappointed.

“Well, here then,” Ajaa wedged himself into the corner of the couch and swung his legs up onto the couch. He sat up and moved Julie to sit between his legs before laying back against the arm of the couch and hugging Julie down against him, “There, my back is all lined up, no worries” he smiled.

Julie tucked her head under his chin the best she could while avoiding laying on the protrusion in the center of his chest. She could hear his heart beating a strong and steady cadence like a waltz, a strong first beat followed by two quicker beats. There was nothing really similar to what used to; the cowl, fused fingers, black sclera, slit pupils, the sapphire tone of his skin and eyes, nothing human-like at all and yet there was something comforting about all of his differences. There were no expectations at that moment as she laid on his chest and let him run his fingers through her hair.

“I missed this” Ajaa said, breaking the silence.

“Missed what?” Julie asked.

“Just doing something like this. Sivus and Paalka and Allya are all great, and Allya doesn't mind if I lean on her a bit, but this is better, closer” he said as he pulled her up closer.

He did not give off almost any body heat Julie noticed as she nestled her face into his neck, the skin on his neck and cowl had a soft almost velvet-like quality. For the first time she also noticed his scent, a sort of sweet and almost herbal smell with musky undertones.

“I wouldn't mind doing this more often” he said softly, burying his face into her hair.

“We should, I like it too” Julie smiled into his neck.

Ajaa unwrapped one of his arms from Julie and moved one of Julie’s hands up to the side of his cowl, moving her hand along to stroke is cowl, “That's what feels good to me” he told her.

She continued to run her fingers along his cowl as she listened to him gently sigh, enjoying how he sounded when he was happy, “I tripped over you four days ago, now I'm cuddled up with you on your couch. Do all angara move this quickly?” Julie teased.

“Angara like contact, and apparently so do humans” Ajaa smirked, “and you seem more than alright with this”.

“I've always liked to cuddle, and it's been 600 years since I have” she said.

“You're always welcome here” he told her. He gently placed a hand on her chin and lifted her face up to his, “What an interesting thing you are, round pupils so I doubt you can see well, you don't seem to be able to smell every well either, you taste things weird, and you're sort of fuzzy all over. You're an odd little alien though you're not off putting at all, much nicer looking than a kett”.

“Good to know I'm better looking than the bad guys” she teased back, “And don't worry, even with the slit pupils and black sclera, and the scent glands, and fused fingers I think you're pretty good looking too”.

“Angara in general? Or me?” asked Ajaa.

“Can't it be both?” Julie asked back, feigning innocence.

“It can be,” he said, shifting his hands down to Julie’s waist to move her so she was sitting up and straddling his hips, “But there's a difference between finding all angara attractive and me attractive” he ran his fingers along her waist and ribs, exploring her.

“Well, blue is my favorite color” she said running her hand down the lines of his cowl to the point where both sides converged on his chest.

“Mmmm, plenty of angara are blue, Sivus is blue too” he gently rubbed circles into her sides with his fingers.

“But Sivus is lighter blue, and a bit gray though. I think you're better looking” she smiled.

“So it is me then” he said, some of his confidence seemed to suddenly vanish, “You think I'm attractive?” he asked almost in disbelief.

“Well, yeah. That's what I've been saying” she told him.

“Oh” he said softly.

“Oh? Why are you so surprised?” She asked, suddenly feeling a bit awkward as she sat straddling his hips, “We’ve been all cuddled up and you're the one who moved me to sit here and you just had your hands all on me, I figured you were flirting, unless that's just how angara are with friends”.

“No no no! It's not that, I just- I just thought you were humoring me” he said despondently.

“Why would I do that? Wouldn't that kind of be leading you on?” Julie asked, even more confused. Why would he think she would lead him on, and why was he so willing to go along if he thought she was not being serious anyways?

“Look, I know I've got a lot of scars and issues, I'm no one’s first choice and I know that. The flirting felt nice though, even if I didn't think you meant it” he was looking down and refusing to meet her gaze, his hand still resting on her waist.

Julie mimicked what he did earlier and gently lifted his chin up to get him to face her, “I think you're attractive, and a kind person, and very interesting to talk to. But I also know that I just woke up from a 600 year nap not too long ago and I've only known you for a few days so maybe,” Julie  clamored down off from him, “Maybe we go back to leaning on each other and watch a movie and just go back to talking for now?”

“Yeah,” he said dryly as he sat back up, “And just so you know I wasn't trying for sex” he quickly added.

“Oh I figured that much, you don't even want me to see your back, kind of figured you didn't plan on stripping down” Julie smirked.

“Laugh all you want, but there are plenty of positions where you wouldn't see my back, I was already laying on my back anyways” he joked back.

Julie smiled and leaned back against him, “There’s the Ajaa I know”.

“Sorry about all that, it had just been a while since I even had the chance to really flirt like that or anything,” he apologized, “I do think you're attractive too though, and I like talking with you and I'd really like to get to know you, if that's alright with you”.

“I think that sounds good, but you absolutely can go back to playing with my hair, that felt nice” she said.

“That's not too intimate for humans or anything?” he asked cautiously.

“It's a close thing, but it's not intimate or anything, like it's something even friends could do” she told him.

Ajaa quickly began to run his fingers through her hair again, enjoying how soft it was, “Good, I liked this too”.

After a bit of confusion Julie managed to connect her omni tool to the monitor on Ajaa’s wall and pulled up what few movies that the Initiative had managed to archive and bring over. “Alright, so apparently the Initiative didn't bring much over, and what they did aren't even good movies so just chose whatever you think sounds good” Julie said. None of the movies were something she would want to show to a new species for first contact, or even second contact.

“Why not just chat then? And I don't mean the interview stuff you normally do” Ajaa said, “I'd rather actually get to know you instead”.

“Alright, so you ask the questions for once” she said.

“Well, where are you from? Like where in the Milky Way? What’s your planet called and what's it like?” he asked.

“I was born on Earth, it's the human homeworld. It's definitely seen better days," she smiled, "but it's a nice place, no massive environmental threats like Voeld and the flora and fauna aren't always trying to kill you like Havarl,” Julie pulled up images of Earth on her omni tool and projected them to the monitor on the wall, “This is Earth”.

Ajaa stared, seemingly fascinated by the images, “Do you miss it?”

“Yeah,” she said softly, “I kind of came here on a whim, I'm not upset that I came but I really miss my home”.

“I miss my old home too, it's hard when there's no going back,” Ajaa pulled her into a tight hug and onto his lap, “Starting over is hard, and sometimes it's lonely, but I'm glad I met you”.

All of the blood seemed to rush to her face again and Julie quickly buried her face into his chest so he would not see her blushing, “I'm glad I met you too” she mumbled into his chest. It felt safe and cozy wrapped up in Ajaa’s hug as he ran his fingers through her hair again.

“Did you have a big family?” he asked, his face nestled against the top of her head.

“Not really, I'm an only child and my mom was in the military so it was mostly just me and my dad” Julie closed her eyes. She had not slept too well on Sivus’s couch and it was really starting to hit her.

“Sounds a bit lonely, I know how that feels” he said.

“It wasn't bad, my dad always made sure I was busy and we always had other people over, it was pretty nice actually” she said, leaning against his chest more and fighting off sleep.

“Do humans live in big families usually?” he asked.

“Depends on the culture. There's not really one human culture so it just depends on where on Earth your family came from, I just lived with my parents, but in other places people live all together with family and friends” she told him.

“Like angara” Ajaa smiled.

“Yeah” she yawned back, closing her eyes.

“Come here sleepy,” Ajaa cooed as he laid back down and pulled her back onto his chest.

“I'm not sleepy” she protested through another yawn as she laid down on his chest.

“Mmhm,” he gently began to rub circles along her back, lulling her to sleep.

After a few minutes Julie stopped fighting off sleep. Between Ajaa rubbing her back and listening to the slow rhythmic beating of his heart she could not stay awake any longer and decided that a nap would not be the worse thing.

 _She looks so cute when she sleeps,_ Ajaa smiled to himself as he looked down to where Julie was napping on him. He pressed his lips to the top of her head, enjoying how the softness of her hair felt against his lips. “You're too much, you know that?” he muttered.

It surprised him that Julie felt comfortable enough just to fall asleep on him, though it surprised him even more how comfortable he was getting close with her. Something about her gave him such a warm feeling deep in his chest, he wanted to show her Aya and the angara, he wanted to hear all about where she was from and what she liked, but most of all he felt himself longing to be close to her every way possible.

For the first time in a long time Ajaa feel sleeping feeling completely relaxed and content with a slight smile on his lips.


	6. Altschmerz

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Altschmerz  
> n. weariness with the same old issues that you’ve always had—the same boring flaws and anxieties you’ve been gnawing on for years, which leaves them soggy and tasteless and inert, with nothing interesting left to think about, nothing left to do but spit them out and wander off to the backyard, ready to dig up some fresher pain you might have buried long ago.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this took a while, whoops...

It was nice to wake up with Ajaa. He was slowly tracing his fingers along Julie’s back as she woke up, “Hey there sleepy head” he said softly as he realized she was awake.

“Good morning” she smiled back and nestled her face into his neck.

“More like good afternoon, you slept through the morning” his voice was a low rumble from just waking up also.

Julie liked how he sounded, the way his voice got when he was waking up. It had not been the most physically comfortable nap, but there was something very safe and comforting about Ajaa’s presence. “How are your legs?” she asked, hoping that sleeping on him had not done anything to aggravate his nerve damage.

“I'm fine, promise” he smiled as he wiggled his toes to prove it, “Though as nice as this is would you mind getting off of me? I don't think I've had anything to eat since lunch yesterday”.

_ Lunch sounds good, _ Julie thought to herself as she pushed herself up and off of him.

Ajaa got up on wobbly legs and made his way to the tiny kitchen tucked into the corner of his apartment. It was pretty bare bones like Julie’s kitchen: a few cabinets, a sink, a tiny fridge, and a small hot plate made up the entirety of the kitchen.

“Are you hungry?” he called to Julie, “Angaran foods are safe for humans, I just don't know how it would taste to you”.

The laia fruit was still pretty fresh in Julie’s mind, making her a bit unsure as to whether or not she wanted to try any angaran foods ever again.

“I promise there won't be any more laia” he said with a smirk as if he was able to read her mind.

“Maybe I should head home to eat” Julie called back, “just to be safe”.

“I'll go with you” Ajaa offered as he rummaged about, “if that's alright” he quickly added, “maybe I can show you more of the city afterwards”.

“Yeah, I’d like that” she told him. It would be nice to do something with Ajaa, well something besides sleeping.

Ajaa quickly found what he was looking for in the kitchen, a few pieces of fruit and a tube of something, and the two quickly headed out and made their way to Julie’s apartment.

The walk was pleasant and it felt nice to stretch her legs out as they made their way around the outskirts of the city. Ajaa seemed so bright and full of life as he excitedly pointed things out from various plants to places that had meaning from his childhood growing up there. There was something strangely familiar feeling about everything, as if she had known Ajaa for years and they had been on this very same walk before, but Julie found it comforting to find something so familiar in this new galaxy.

“Is your apartment much further?” asked Ajaa as they rounded a corner and entered the memorial gardens.

“It's just past the gardens actually,” Julie began, “Are your legs bothering you?”

“Oh, no it's not that, but you wouldn't happen to be in the block by the shuttle docks, would you?” he asked, looking a bit concerned.

Julie pursed her lips from the concern in Ajaa’s question, “Yeah, that's where all the Milky Way people were put”.

“Oh boy” he muttered. Ajaa had stopped walking and was now shifting his weight from foot to foot anxiously, looking like he was ready to bolt.

Something was very wrong with Ajaa’s reaction. Julie reached out and grabbed his free hand, partly to comfort him and partly to stop him from bolting if need be, “Got an issue with the dock?” she asked.

“I'm not a fan of shuttles, well ships in general” he admitted. “Didn't actually see a ship until I was 10, and that was a kett ship when they took my daar, then I was evac’d on a shuttle to Pelaav by the Resistance and then flown to Aya for medical treatment”.

“Yeah, not very good experiences with ships” Julie said as she felt Ajaa squeeze onto her hand, “While don't we just meet back up in a bit then? I can go grab lunch and we can meet back at your place” she suggested.

“I'm sorry” he said softly, going to release her hand.

Instead Julie gripped his hand tighter, trying to find a way to interlock her fingers between his, “You have nothing to be sorry for, something bothers you, that's fine” she smiled as she tried to reassure him.

It was a few moments of silence before Ajaa spoke up, “Can you check if there's any shuttles at the dock?”

“Sure, but you don’t have to come with me, we can just meet up later” she told him.

“I want to be with you” he said softly, lowering his face down to press his cheek against her’s.

Julie felt her face heat up from blushing. Ajaa was rather affectionate, even if they were just getting to know each other, which was not a bad thing but it was drawing attention. People passed by and stared at them, some with a passing curiosity, others with looks of disgust which turned the pleasant butterflies in Julie’s stomach into a sinking anxiety.

“The shuttles- I’ll go check on the shuttles” she managed to stammer out and quickly released Ajaa’s hand. She made her way to the blast doors that separated the dock from the rest of the city, hoping that people were not staring anymore.

The doors opened automatically as Julie approached them. It was relatively quiet at the dock, a few people bustled about and a single shuttle was docked on the far side but it appeared to be powered down at least. Julie was still blushing as she made her way back to the memorial gardens, a mixture of Ajaa being so close and affectionate and the disgusted looks a few people gave them was leading to mixed emotions.

Ajaa was waiting where Julie had left him, still shifting about somewhat nervously, “There’s one powered down shuttle on the far side of the dock, is that alright?” she asked.

“Should be ok if we move quickly” he answered, taking a few steps closer to her, “Could I hold your hand again? It helps a bit”.

There was something very endearing about Ajaa asking to hold hands for comfort, a sort of causal openness and vulnerability that was common among the angara. Julie surrendered her hand and Ajaa quickly grabbed it and laced his fingers between her’s as best he could.

The two made their way to the docks and Julie’s apartment as quickly as possible for both of their sake. More people seemed to be watching them, though Julie was more concerned with Ajaa’s death grip on her hand and his obvious discomfort than whatever looks they were getting.

The few hundred feet or so from the doors to her apartment was one of the longest walks of her life. Every second seemed to drag on for several minutes and it felt like they were not making any progress to Julie’s apartment not matter how many steps they took. 

Ajaa was walking in a near robotic state, eyes straight forward towards the apartment block and shoulders hunched forward. Everything about his body language screamed how uncomfortable he was being at the docks.

“Almost there,” she muttered, equal parts to herself and to Ajaa, “Everything is alright”  _ people aren't staring because you're holding hands and smell like him,  _ She tried to reassure herself internally.

The door to her apartment was a welcome relief when they finally made it there and Julie released a breath that she had not realized that she was even holding as they crossed the threshold.

“Are you alright?” she asked Ajaa who still had a tight grip on her hand.

“Yeah,” he said dryly.

It looked like he was ready to fall over at any moment or that the slightest breeze would be able to blow him over as he stood still in the doorway swaying. He did not look too great, his pupils were dilated nearly to the point of being round and Julie could practically feel the electricity crackling under his skin where their hands touched.

“Come sit down” Julie told him as she led him over to the couch, Ajaa followed without saying anything. He seemed like he was in a daze as he released Julie’s hand and sat down on the couch and continued to blankly stare forward.

“Ajaa?” she asked, though he did not respond. “Hey, are you alright?” she asked again. Julie reached out for his hand, hoping to comfort him.

Ajaa flinched and withdrew his hand as soon as Julie touched him, seemingly startled by it.

“Talk to me, what’s going on?” Julie pleaded, though Ajaa made no attempt to move or speak though Julie could see his chest rising and falling rapidly as he took shallow breaths. Julie pulled up Sivus’s contact information on her omni tool and hoped that Sivus might have some insight into Ajaa’s behavior.

There was a few seconds of silence on the line before Sivus picked up, “ _ Julie! What can I do for you? _ ” came his cheerful voice.

“Hey Sivus, I’m really worried about Ajaa. We’re at my apartment and he’s not doing so great, he said he didn’t really like the docks but he insisted on coming with me to my apartment and I live by the docks and now he’s in a daze and-” Julie blurted out, trying to explain everything to Sivus.

“ _ Is he holding still, or is he frantically pacing and trying to find a place to huddle? _ ” Sivus asked, all the cheerfulness gone from his voice. Something about hearing the concern in Sivus’s voice told Julie just how serious things were.

“Holding still, he’s sitting on my couch just staring forwards. I tried to touch his hand and he flinched and pulled away” Julie told him.

“ _ Yeah, don’t touch him. Where there ships at the dock when you were there? _ ” he asked.

“Just one, but it was the engines were off. Ajaa said it would be alright” Julie said.

“ _ And Ajaa tends to downplay everything”  _ Sivus paused and Julie heard him take a deep breath, “ _ Just keep talking to him, keep him grounded and present. If he starts getting panicky and moving around call me immediately, Paalka and I can get to the docks quick if need be _ ”.

“Can you come over now? I’m worried about Ajaa” Julie asked.

“ _ Probably not the best idea, he doesn’t need more people around him right now, it’ll just stress him more and I don’t want him getting worse _ ” Sivus answered, “ _ Just talk to him, talk to him about where you’re from or something, just anything to keep him engaged”. _

“Okay, I’ll try” Julie told him, still feeling unsure about everything and worried about Ajaa.

“ _ And call me if Ajaa seems like he’s getting worse, okay? I don’t want him to hurt himself or you on mistake”  _ Sivus repeated.

“I will- wait what? Hurt himself?” Julie asked.

" _ He’s panicking right now, remembering the kett attack on his daar, the shuttle you saw at the dock is bringing everything up again. If he’s just remembering things he’ll be stressed but otherwise alright, but sometimes he relives it. If he’s pacing and hiding it’s because he thinks it’s going on again, he’ll run or try to find somewhere to hide from kett, especially don’t touch him then because he might lash out in defence thinking you’re a kett”  _ Sivus explained.

“So Ajaa has PTSD from the attack then?” asked Julie.

“ _ PTSD? _ ” Sivus asked back, his accent thicker than normal as he tried to pronounce the unfamiliar letters.

“Post-traumatic stress disorder, flashbacks, anxiety, all sorts of physical responses to things that remind someone of a past trauma” Julie said, “He’d probably need to be professionally diagnosed if he hasn’t been already, but that’s what it sounds like”.

“ _ Maybe, I don’t know. We can worry about that later, for now just talk to him, keep him calm”  _ Sivus said.

“Yeah, will do. I’ll talk to you later, thanks” Julie said as she ended the call. She took a deep breath as she turned her attention back to Ajaa. He had not moved or said anything since he had sat down and Julie was not sure if he had heard her and Sivus talking. “So Earth,” Julie began, “I don’t really know what to say, but I think you’d like it there”.

Ajaa still had made no indication that he could hear her.

Julie began again, struggling to find something to talk about, “There was actually a really nice botanical garden close to where I used to live. They had this one plant that only bloomed every few years and it smelled like death when it did, but I get the feeling that it’s one of those things you’d like to study.

No changes with Ajaa, he still sat like a statue.

“It was especially pretty there in the spring when all the flowers were in bloom, well not the one that smelled bad, but they keep that one separate though. And they had an amazing orchid collection, they’re my favorite flowers. There’s a lot of different types and so many colors, I think you’d like them too, it would have been nice to have shown you” she said a bit sadly, the reality of never being able to see Earth again was hitting her.

She felt Ajaa shift how he was sitting a bit, starting to slouch a bit from his rigid posture.

“Though I suppose the Nexus is pretty in it’s own way too,” she began again, “I have an apartment there close to the hydroponics garden and it’s pretty nice there. They’ve got a big tree in the middle, which it was pretty cool to see in the middle of a space station. I don’t know, I’m just babbling, but I hope you’re alright and that maybe I’m helping”.

Julie sat in silence, picking her brain for anything else to talk about.  _ Why is this so hard? I can literally talk about anything,  _ she grumbled to herself.

Without looking over Ajaa reached over and placed his hand on top of her’s. He was finally leaning back on the couch and his breathing seemed to be leveling out somewhat.

“Doing better?” she asked.

Ajaa didn’t speak, but he looked over and gave Julie a weak smile.

“You should probably eat your lunch, you’ve had quite a grip on that tube and fruit for a while now” Julie said gently, “Here, I’ll get you some water, looks like you need it”. Julie felt Ajaa’s hand linger on her’s as she stood up. He was looking up at her, his stare was still somewhat blank, but he seemed unwilling to release her hand. Julie went to move though Ajaa tugged on her hand, motioning for her to sit back down with him. “It’s alright, I’ll be right back, I promise”.

Ajaa released her hand, but he tracked her movement around the apartment as she went to go get him some water.

“See? Coming right back” she told him as she sat back down on the couch and handed him the glass of water.

He took it from her and immediately sat in down on the table in front of the couch before leaning against her and resting his head on her lap.

“I’m here” Julie murmured as she began to absentmindedly run her fingers along his cowl like how he had showed her earlier. He did not flinch away this time, instead he gently nuzzled his face into her lap. It left a sinking feeling in her heart seeing Ajaa like this, shaken up and still not speaking, but at least he seemed to be relaxing a bit.

There was a lot going through Ajaa’s thoughts, Julie watched his face as his eyes darted from her face to around the room and then back to her again. It almost seemed as if he was trying to gather his thoughts and say something but instead he just wrapped his arms around her the best he could.

“Are you feeling any better?” Julie asked.

Ajaa remained silent for a moment before answering in a soft voice, “Yeah, a bit,” he paused, taking a few breaths, “Sorry”.

“Sorry?” Julie questioned, her heart sinking farther down in her chest from Ajaa’s apology, “Why are you sorry?”

“You shouldn’t have to deal with this,” he muttered and looked away, “I shouldn’t have come with you, it was stupid and selfish and I knew it was probably a bad idea and I came anyways. I could have hurt you! I know you know that, Sivus told you”. The electricity cracking under the skin of his cowl was getting stronger as Ajaa got himself more worked up and annoyed with himself. He started to sit up and pull away, “I should just get going, I don’t want you to have to deal with this”.

“No” Julie said firmly as he caught his hand and pulled him back down, “You don’t need to go back out to the docks right now, that’s really the last thing you need. And I’m not  _ dealing _ with this, I want to be here for you, I want to help. Let me help, is there anything I can do?”

He seemed conflicted as he let Julie tug him back down to her lap, but ultimately allowed her to do so, “This is just nice,” he said as he laid his head back down though he still was not making eye contact, “It feels safe”.

“Good, I’m glad” she smiled.

It seemed like Ajaa was nodding off, or maybe just taking a moment to close his eyes and gather his thoughts a bit more, either way he looked more at peace. Julie traced her fingertips along his cowl just barely touching him, causing him shiver a bit and finally smile.

“Sure you haven’t been around angara before” he said with his eyes still closed, enjoying how Julie was touching him.

“Just good intuition” she told him, “You should probably eat though, you were hungry when we left your apartment and you’ve got to be starving by now, and you’ve probably crushed whatever you brought with you”.

“Yeah” he answered quietly.

“Up up” Julie nudged as she helped him up, “We can have lunch together, how does that sound?”

“I’d like that” he smiled.

Julie made her way back into the kitchen and rummaged about, not that there was much to chose from to eat anyways.  _ Meal bar it is,  _ she decided, not that she had options. She snached one of the bars out of the box and grabbed a glass of water before joining Ajaa back on the couch.

“What’s that?” he asked as he was unscrewing the top of the tube he brought with him.

“Meal bar, not the best, but it’s food” Julie shrugged.

“But what is it?” he asked again.

Julie thought for a moment and then flipped the bar over to read the packaging on the back, “Soy protein, palm kernel oil, sucralose, salt, natural and artificial flavors, vitamin mix” Julie started to list off, though Ajaa did not seem to be following, “It’s plant protein, plant oils, sugar, salt, a bunch of flavorings they don’t specify, a lot of vitamins, and then there’s a bunch of preservatives and stabilizers”.

“Ahh, about the same with this” he said holding up the tube, “It’s nutrient paste, plant proteins, oils so it doesn’t solidify, a lot of ground up fruits and vegetables for vitamins”.

“How does it taste?” ask Julie.

Ajaa shrugged, “Bland, it’s not really bad, but it’s a bit like wet grass and perfume. What about yours?”

“Better than wet grass, but pretty bland too. Soy doesn’t have much flavor, and I think this one might have supposed to be peanut butter” she said.

“What’s peanut butter?” Ajaa asked.

“It’s ground up peanuts, they’re a little bean thing and they’re pretty oily so you can make a spread out of them pretty easily, pretty popular flavor for things” she explained.

“Can I try it?” Ajaa asked.

“Do you think it would be safe?” Julie asked back.

“Should be. Medical teams have been analyzing Milky Way stuff since you guys showed up and so far so good” he said.

Julie unwrapped the bar and handed it to him, “Go for it, I hope it tastes as bad to you as laia did to me”.

Ajaa gave the bar a tentative sniff before biting off the corner of it. “Well the texture is better than nutrient paste” he noted as he continued to chew, “Oh, oh no. No no no. That is revolting” his nose was scrunched up as he forced himself to swallow the bar, “Peanut butter is disgusting” he finished.

“Not so fun to be on the receiving end of strange food, is it?” Julie chided.

“No, it’s terrible” he couched as he reached for the water that Julie had gotten for him earlier and took a drink, “Maybe swapping food isn’t the best idea. Here try this” he said handing her his tube of nutrient paste.

“No way, you even agree that’s it’s not a great idea” she said.

“Yeah, but you react so much, it’s really cute” he smiled, “Please?’ he asked.” 

“Fine” Julie sighed as she took the tube from and uncapped it the rest of the way, “How am I supposed to even eat this? Do you spread it on something, or just out of the tube, or…?”

“Just out of the tube normally. But if you’d prefer,” he took the tube back from Julie and took one of his gloves off and squeezed a small amount onto his finger.

“I’m not licking that off your finger” Julie told him.

“What? You should try it on it’s own instead of on something so you can actually taste it” he shrugged.

Julie was giving him quite a look, trying to figure out his intentions. If this was the same as when he insisted on holding the laia fruit the other day or if this was Ajaa’s somewhat awkward way of flirting. “Fine” she conceded.

He lifted his hand up to her mouth, though Julie grabbed onto his wrist to keep in control of the situation. She guided his finger to her lips and gently licked off some of the paste though the texture was a lot thicker than she was expecting and she was having some difficulty actually getting it off of his finger.  _ Well, it’s already odd enough as is _ , she sighed internally before running her tongue along his finger a bit more aggressively to actually get some of the paste off. It was not terrible, there was an earthiness to it that definitely not as bad as “wet grass” as Ajaa described, and it was more savory than sweet, honestly is was not bad.

“Any thoughts?” asked Ajaa, breaking the odd silence.

“Not bad, it’s more savory to me but still pretty bland” she remarked.

“I think you missed some” he said.

“You’re not even trying to be subtle, are you?” she asked, half teasing and half serious.

“What? You left like half on my finger, and I don’t think you even got enough to really taste it” he feigned innocence.

“You are a terrible liar” she smirked, now very sure of Ajaa’s intentions, but not opposed to his attempt at flirting. She lifted his finger back up to her lips and gently sucked on the tip of his finger to lick off the rest of the paste.

Ajaa had a shy smile plastered across his face, clearly enjoying everything.

“Happy now?” she teased as she removed his finger from her mouth.

“What? I just wanted you to try some more angaran food” he smirked back.

Julie rolled her eyes at him, but smiled. He was openly affectionate, and a bit forward, but neither was a bad thing, at least she felt like she really knew where she stood with him, ‘Well as interesting as that was it really is time for lunch, despite whatever you were trying to accomplish with that”.

“I have no clue what you’re talking about” he said, same smile still lingering on his lips before he busied himself peeling one of the fruits he brought.

Julie turned her attention back to her meal bar, nibbling on it as she sorted out whatever just happened. She remembered reading something in the files that Avela had given her about angaran flirting being pretty direct, angara were not the type to mince words or drop subtle hints but would much rather just say how they felt about someone.

They finished their lunches in relative silence, but Ajaa’s reaction earlier was still weighing on her.  _ Sivus didn’t know what PTSD was,  _ echoed in her mind,  _ do angara not have a word for it or did Sivus just not happen to know about it? Has Ajaa ever done anything about it? Surely, but Sivus didn’t know what it was. _ “Hey Ajaa?” she began, not knowing if it was a good idea to bring it up.

“Yeah?” he answered, he seemed exhausted even though he had only been awake for a few hours and he was slowly leaning over and onto Julie’s shoulder.

“Nap time again?” Julie asked instead as she crumpled up the wrapper from the bar and sat it down on the table, Ajaa seemed to drained to talk about anything that happened right now.

“Maybe. Sorry, the adrenaline wore off and I’m just feeling drained” Ajaa said though a yawn.

“That’s alright, you can go lay down in my room if you need to” Julie told him.

“Will you come lay down with me?” he asked, the playfulness from the paste incident was gone, instead replaced with a soft gentleness.

“Would you be able to rest and relax better that way?” she asked.

“Yeah” he said softly, “There’s something comforting about you”.

Julie sighed, “Alright, just give me a moment to tidy up in here. Just go lay down, I’ll be right there”.

Ajaa nuzzled his face into her neck before pulling away and making his way back to Julie’s room. Julie could not help wondering what he was playing at as she picked up the glasses, bar wrapper, and empty paste tube and brought them to the kitchen.  _ What is it that he wants?  _ She questioned.

It looked like Ajaa had wasted no time in making himself comfortable taking off his shoes and gloves and Julie could not help but smile as she saw him cuddled up under the blankets. He turned his head when he heard her enter the room and out stretched his arms signaling her to come lay with him.  _ 3 days,  _ she thought to herself,  _ it’s been 3 days and I’m cuddling up in bed with him and alright with this. _ Ajaa pulled her against his chest his chest immediately so her back was to him and he buried his face into the back of her neck.

Despite only being awake for a few hours Julie felt herself getting tired too. Maybe it was from the stress earlier, maybe it was just how comforting it was laying with Ajaa. Everything felt different though, he did not give off much body heat, and the protrusions on his chest were poking her in the back ever so slightly, a reminder just how different they still were from each other.

“Ajaa?” Julie began, her voice a bit unsure, “What is it that you expect? What do you want from all this?”

He remained silent, though Julie felt his grip around her tighten, “I don’t have any expectations for any of this, and I only want what you’re willing to give me” he paused, seeming to steady himself and gather his thoughts, “ I like spending time with you, you’re interesting and different from anyone else I know. You’ve been very kind to me, you don’t think less of me even after seeing me get stuck on my back in the lab or after everything that happened earlier and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t hoping that maybe this would go past just friends, but if that’s all you’re willing to give me I’d still be happy to have you in my life however you feel comfortable”.

It felt like her face was on fire after hearing Ajaa’s very honest confession. Truthfully none of it was anything new after how he had flirted today, but the openness of everything caught her off guard. It was also forcing her to really evaluate how she felt about everything. He was friendly, and gentle, and playful. She really did enjoy spending time with him, and plenty of people from the Milky Way pursued relationships outside of their species, though Julie had never been one of them. The asari were pretty enough, but the mind melding had always freaked her out. The turians were striking, but the levo/dextro difference was daunting and everything about turians seemed too sharp. The krogan were well, just too much everything. She could go on about each species and while the angara were much more approachable that the Milky way species in her opinion she was not sure how she really felt about anything more than cuddling up with Ajaa still.

“You don’t have so answer or say anything now,” Ajaa broke the silence, “I just thought you deserved an honest answer”.

Julie did not say anything, she did not know what to say, how to phrase ‘I like spending time with you and do find you attractive but the thought of sex with an alien is still really bizarre to me, no offense’ without it coming off as a complete shutdown.

“Everything is at your pace, well from here on out at least. I don’t really know how humans handle any of this, but I want you to be comfortable and happy” he added.

Never had Julie been happier to be spooning instead of facing someone. She did not think she would be able to handle Ajaa seeing how much she was blushing, well if angara blushed too or knew what it meant. “I just want to see how things go, I think” Julie answered.

“Then we continue on as we were” Ajaa said into the back of her neck. His breath was warm and tickled the back of her neck pleasantly, sending a shiver down her spine.

_ Yeah, maybe I can get used to this. _


	7. The Unknown

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for sticking with me for so long! There's still plenty to come, but I promise things are picking up! ^.^

It was raining. The soft pitter patter of raindrops against the window woke Julie up, or maybe it was Ajaa’s slight snoring in her ear. 

_ What time is it?  _ Julie brought up the interface of her omni tool, bathing the room in its soft orange glow and blinding herself a bit in the process, to check the time.  _ 4:65 morning cycle, local time  _ the clock read.   _ Thirty units in a day, divided into three 10 unit cycles,  _ Julie tried to remember. The translators did fairly well to convert Ayan time to Milky Way standard, but right now 4:65mc had very little meaning to Julie besides that it was very dark outside and either very late or very early.

Ajaa shifted in his sleep, pulling Julie closer against his chest as he got comfortable again.

“You really don't waste any time making yourself at home, do you?” she muttered to him. She had definitely shared a bed with much worse partners, Ajaa did not hog the blanket nor did he not kick or move much in his sleep, and he only barely snored, though bizarrely he had no problem crawling into her bed and asking her to join him, even if it was only to actually sleep.

_ What is this?  _ She wondered,  _ What are we? _ Whatever they were was comfortable. Ajaa was forward, but he was not pushy, which Julie supposed was better than what she had typically dealt with in humans, though it did make her wonder how much of it was how Ajaa was and how much of it was simply how angara were.

“Why is it so bright? What are you doing?” grumbled Ajaa.

“Just checking the time” Julie answered and closed her omni tool. “4:65 morning cycle”.

“Shit,” he grumbled, “didn't mean to stay the night”. He started to move, releasing Julie from his grasp and going to get up.

“It's alright, seems like you needed the rest, it's not a big deal” she reassured him. It had been a bit odd to wake up in her own bed with him, but it was better than if he had left earlier while still in that daze.

“I appreciate that, but I'm more concerned about strolling out of your place in the morning smelling like you” he said, “Just don't want to put you in a bad position again”.

_ A bit late for that,  _ Julie mused. People had already seen them holding hands on their way through the docks even if it was only to keep Ajaa calm. “It’s fine” she lied. 

They way people had looked on in disgust on their way to her apartment was still fresh in her mind. It had only been a few people, and most of the rest were either indifferent or mildly curious, but the hate on those few people's faces was difficult to ignore. It reminded her of the man from the market who called her  _ vesagara. _

_ “ _ I can leave now if you want” he offered, snapping Julie out of her train of thought, “That might be better”.

“It’s fine” she reassured him again, “Plus I don’t want you walking through the docks on your own. Just stay here”.

“Thank you, Julie” she heard him say softly into the back of her head. His voice was soft and low, the same husky sound his voice had when she had woken up with him on his couch earlier. It sounded nice.

_ This really is sort of nice, _ Julie smiled, once again happy that Ajaa could not see her face. “Of course” she told him. 

There was something soothing about falling asleep wrapped up with someone and Julie found that sleeping with him now and on his couch the other day was some of the best sleep she had gotten since arriving in Andromeda.

“Would you like to go out and actually do something tomorrow?” he asked.

“You mean besides sleep?” Julie teased back.

Ajaa laughed, it was a sort of low rumble that Julie felt reverberate all throughout her body, “Yeah, as much as I like waking up to you I feel bad that I still haven’t shown you the city like I keep promising you I will”.

Julie found herself clinging onto each of his words, his voice was rich and warm and gave her a sense of comfort every time he spoke, especially now as she laid with her back against his chest and could feel the vibrations as he spoke. “Promise?” she asked.

He always seemed to want to be closer, moving his face into the crook of her neck before speaking, “More than anything” he said softly.

The feeling of his lips gently brushing against her neck as he spoke sent a pleasant chill down her spine and she could have sworn there was an almost electric tingle coming off of them.  _ Is he doing that on purpose?  _ She wondered, though regardless of whether or not it was, it felt amazing.  _ Angaran bioelectrics for pleasure, surely that has to be a thing,  _ she found herself thinking. It was an interesting concept, she had heard about biotics using their abilities in bed though she had never experienced it even with her own meager abilities, and right now with how it felt with Ajaa’s lips on her neck she was starting to see how people could enjoy something like that.

They fell back asleep just like that with Ajaa’s face buried into the side of Julie’s neck. His breath tickled in a pleasant way and lulled Julie easily back into a comfortable sleep.

It was bright the next time Julie woke up. The sun filtered through the trees and shadows danced playfully around the room. 

Ajaa had lessened his grip on her during the night and instead just had his arm draped over her and Julie used her new found mobility to roll over and face him. His lips were parted slightly and he looked so peaceful as he continued to sleep so Julie took the time to study his face up close. Where his cowl and the side of his head met his skin was a lighter blue, and there were a lot more purple speckles and marks on the edges of his cowl and down the center of his face than she had noticed before. 

“There really is something rather handsome about you” Julie murmured as she continued to look over his face. She reached up and kissed the tip of his nose being careful not to wake him, “What am I going to do about you?” she asked softly. 

He was kind and gentle, and even though Julie was still not sure whether his affectionateness was because he was an angara or if it was just how he was, she enjoyed it greatly. It was her turn to bury her face into his neck now, the skin on his neck was soft and near velvety against her lips. At this point she was sure that if she did not already strongly smell like him that she surely did now as the top of her head rested against his jawline and scent glands.

Shortly after Ajaa began to stir. He squinted in the bright light of the morning sun before smiling as he became aware of how Julie had cuddled up against his chest.”Good morning, beautiful” he cooed as he entwined his fingers into her hair, “What am I going to do about you too?” he said and pressed his lips against her forehead, indicating that he was not quite as asleep as she had thought earlier.

_ You should really get better at keeping your thoughts internal,  _ she scolded herself, but the kiss felt nice.

“So an adventure today,” he smiled, “How about we go down to the planet floor. There’s some beautiful flowers in bloom this time of year and we can swing by the lab and get a flower pot and find something for your apartment maybe”.

“Trying to get my apartment to look like yours?” Julie teased.

Ajaa’s laugh was a rich and warm rumble that Julie could feel it vibrating through her, “Plants make things a bit brighter. And your apartment is so bare! You can’t even tell someone lives here!”

“Fine, I’ll let you get me a plant” she smirked back. 

There was comfort in laying there with Ajaa. Even the initial embarrassment of Ajaa actually hearing what she had said when she thought he was still asleep had vanished and Julie was left with a pleasant warmth settled in her chest. They laid in bed together for a few minutes more with Ajaa gently tracing circles along Julie’s back while she tried not to just fall back asleep. 

“If we don’t get up soon I’m not sure if we’re going to be making it out of bed at all today” she sighed into his neck.

“Would that really be the worst thing?” he asked.

Julie smiled,  _ It wouldn’t be the worst at all,  _ “C’mon, I actually want to see more of Aya”.

Ajaa sighed and kissed her forehead again softly before releasing her, “I just need to swing by my place to grab something to eat before we head down, is that alright?”

“Of course, just let me get dressed and eat something and then we can head out” she smiled back. 

Reluctantly she pulled herself out of bed, it really would be nice to see more of Aya, but the more time she spent with Ajaa the more she found out how easy it was to settle into a sort of a sense of normalcy with him. Rummaging through her drawers she found a tank top and a pair of shorts that seemed like they would be alright for the Ayan heat, especially after learning that the angara liked to keep covered up from practical reasons and not modesty, and she quickly headed into the bathroom to change in privacy.

“Wow” she heard Ajaa breathe as she walked back into the room, “You should wear shorts more often”.

She blushed and managed to stammer out “Thanks”.  _ So you’re a legs guy,  _ she noted, “Ready to go?”

“Whenever you are” he smiled.

Julie grabbed a meal bar and a water bottle as they made their way out. There were not any shuttles this time at the dock, though just being at the dock seemed to be making Ajaa nervous. She felt him reach down and take the water bottle out of her hand and entwine his fingers with her’s for comfort like yesterday.  _ It’ll be alright,  _ she told herself half about Ajaa’s nervousness and half about what people might think.

They reached the blast doors that led to the memorial gardens without any incidents from either Ajaa or any onlookers, at least the rest of the journey should be easier, though Ajaa had still not released her hand nor did he seem like he intended to. The walk through the memorial gardens and market was pleasant and there was a sweet smell in the air from the flowers and it was not long until they reached Ajaa's apartment.

“Make yourself at home” he told her as they entered his apartment, “I just want to change clothes and grab something to eat”.

Julie gave him a nod and sat down on the couch after taking her water bottle back from him. His apartment was cozy for sure, there were little knick knacks tucked around between plants, though everything was still mostly tidy.

Ajaa reappeared from his room a few minutes later in fresh clothes, “Sorry, I'm almost ready” he apologized.

“It's alright” Julie smiled. 

He was wearing purple with accents of gray, it looked nice against the blues of his skin and she watched as Ajaa dug through the kitchen to find another tube of the nutrient paste.

“I'm so jealous that the Initiative has bars instead of paste,” he began as he sat down on the couch next to her, “Having most of your food have almost no texture is terrible. Living on Aya makes things a little better since at least there's pretty easy access to fruits and vegetables, but what I wouldn't give to actually eat real food regularly”.

_ Yeah, it's only been a few weeks of meal bars and I'm already sick of them,  _ she mused. “At least your team can hopefully make some sort of big break through soon. Maybe after that some land can be cleared for animals so you can actually get meat”.

“Meat? Angara don't eat meat” Ajaa corrected.

“Does it have to do with the reincarnation?” Julie asked cautiously.

Ajaa let out a deep rumbling laugh, “No! We just don't need to, and it makes most people sick anyways”.

“So are angara herbivores then?”

“Pretty much, fruits, vegetables, grains, that's really all we need” he explained, “I'm guessing humans eat meat then?” he questioned back as he fidgeted with the cap to the tube of paste.

“Most do, some choose not to though. Ok this is going to sound weird but do you have more than one stomach?”

“What?” he sounded confused and was giving Julie a weird look.

“Sorry, some Earth animals have like two or three stomachs and that's how they can survive off just plants. That's why humans can't just eat leaves all day, we can't actually break them down with only one, so most of us eat meat” she trailed off as she tried to explain.  _ Well, this has become a weird biology lesson, awesome. _

“Just one” the look on his face was a bit puzzled.

“Sorry,” she apologized again, “just trying to figure you out”.

“No need to apologize, you’re welcome to figure all of me out however way you want to” he purred as he pulled her into his lap so she was straddling him.

_ Oh fuck,  _ Julie felt her face heat up and she knew she must have been bright red after his comment.  _ Not the biology lesson I had in mind. How does he even go from weird awkward dietary conversation to this so easily? _

Ajaa was already fairly easy to read, he did not seem to have much interest in hiding what he was thinking or how he felt, though it was still difficult for Julie to tell how much of that was him versus just how the angara always were. He was watching her closely, seeing what she was going to do next.

_ He’s giving you a choice,  _ she told herself,  _ He said he’d go at your pace and now he’s giving the option to see what you want to do from here.  _ Julie fidgeted uncomfortably, up close there was something unnerving about his eyes, large and dark and very alien as he watched her. There was nothing intense or piercing about how he looked at her, but something settled deep in her stomach that removed that sense of normalcy that she had settled into earlier when she woke up with him.  _ Are you really alright with this? _

“You’re cute when you blush” he smiled and brushed a few strands of her hair off her face. She felt the faint tingles of electricity under his skin as his fingertips brushed her face and she fought the urge to lean into his touch.

Her heart was racing.  _ It’s not a big deal, he's not human but he's handsome in his own way and he's a good man,  _ she told herself. And  _ you don't have to do anything right now. _

There was a weird buzz in the air as Julie worked through every possibility in her head. Completely shutting him down did not feel right, neither did letting things go any further for the moment being that she still was not sure what she wanted. A little kiss seemed like the best idea and Julie leaned forward and gave him a soft kiss on the cheek. Ajaa was smiling even more when she pulled back and climbed off of his lap.

“That was nice” he said as he waited for Julie to get comfortable on the couch again before leaning on her, “Your lips are very soft”.

_ Alright reaction, no perceivable disappointment, so far so good,  _ She told herself.

“We should finish up here, if we get going soon we can make it down and back up before it gets too hot out” he said, downing the tube of nutrient paste quickly.

“Not a fan of the heat?” Julie asked.

“Look, I may have been born on Havarl and spent a lot of time here, but every day Voeld starts to look a bit nicer”.

She could not help but laugh, “You know that's a bit ironic, right? You work outside and you're the one choosing to wear the long sleeves. And Aya isn’t even that bad!”

“You haven't seen an angara deal with the heat have you?” he asked.

“You'll be fine” Julie leaned back against him and he wrapped his arm around her shoulders. It felt nice to go back to just cuddling.  _ Alright, sex is still definitely out of the question at least for now,  _ Julie decided as she took a few bites out of the meal bar,  _ But I wouldn't mind spending more time like this. _

Ajaa buried his face into the side of Julie’s head just behind her ear and Julie leaned into the soft kisses that tingled across her skin as he trailed down to her neck before he pulled away.  _ You’re not subtle at all.  _ Part of her wanted him to continue, at least with the kisses, though she was concerned with whatever it might lead to.

“Is that electrical thing on purpose?” she asked.

“What electrical thing?” he questioned back.

“A lot of the time it feels like you've got electricity under your skin” she explained, “and it feels nice” she quietly added.

He smiled and gently placed his hand under Julie’s chin and tilted her face up towards his, “All angara can manipulate their bioelectric fields and do things like that, though it's a conscious effort most of the time. I can't really turn it off though, so I'm glad you like it”.

“Is that because of the nerve damage?” she asked.

“Yeah. It's a ‘neural bleed’, or that's what some of the doctors have called it anyways. It just means my nerve impulses are a bit stronger than they should be so excess electricity ‘bleeds’ out and the spine damage makes it a bit difficult for me to redirect any excess electricity so it just sort of sparks under my skin” he told her.

“Is that alright? Is it safe?” concern edged into her voice as she asked.

“It's fine. It's not dangerous or anything. Sometimes I fry data pads on mistake, and I don't know how many communicators I've destroyed, but I'm not going to hurt you, so you don't have to worry”.

“I meant if it was alright for you”.

“For me? Yeah, it's fine” he furrowed his brow, “You’re concerned about me?”

“Well, yeah. You're the first friend I've made in Andromeda, and I like spending time with you and I just want to make sure you're alright”.

He almost looked relieved when he smiled and he seemed a bit caught off guard, “I’m as alright as I ever will be” his hand was still under her chin and he took a moment to stroke his finger across her cheek a few times, “You don't need to worry about me”.

“If you say so” she said. His hand felt cool against her face and she could feel the slight tingle of electricity from him as she took his hand in her’s and kissed his palm. Julie hoped he really was alright, though she inwardly admitted that even with his reassurance she would probably still worry. “Is there anything else the doctors could do maybe? Anything to help with the seizures or your hands?”

It looked like a weight suddenly settled on his shoulders and closed his eyes for a moment, seeming to compose himself before speaking, “My last surgery was nearly 9 years ago. My scars aren't just from the attack, I've had so many surgeries I've lost count. Surgeries so I wouldn't bleed out, some to repair my lungs, so many to try to fix my spine. I've done years of physical therapy, learning how to walk again, learning how to use bioelectrics again, I still can't even write really” he took a deep breath and his gaze moved down to stare at his lap, “I wish I could tell you that one day I'll wake up and my hands won't shake, or I'll be able to run, or won't get stuck on my back if I fall, but this is really as good as I'll ever get. I'm sorry”.

There was a heaviness to Ajaa’s words, a certain pain and disappointment that clung to what he said and clouded over his usual cheeriness. A sinking feeling settled in Julie’s stomach, it seemed like Ajaa almost had it rehearsed as he explained his condition.

“There’s nothing to apologize for” she told him gently and squeezed his hand.

“There’s a lot to deal with, I know that. I know I’m no one’s first choice. I know that this is as good as I’ll probably ever get, and I understand if you don’t want to deal with all that” he still had not looked up from his lap. He was waiting for what he thought was the inevitable, for Julie to decided that he was not enough or too much to handle and leave.

“Whatever this is, if it doesn’t work out it won’t be because you have some old injuries” she began. Figuring out that Ajaa was worried about no one wanting him stung a bit. It also explained why he had been so eager to jump into being with her once she learned about his injuries and did not shut him down. “And I wasn’t asking about treatments because I think you need to do anything else. I like spending time with you, and if that means waiting for Sivus to come help with your nerves or anything else, well that’s alright” she smiled and gently placed her hand on his cheek to turn him to face her.

Some of the weight that had settled onto his shoulders seemed to have vanished and he closed his eyes and leaned into her hand. “I’m glad” he smiled. “Now I promised you a plant”.

Everything felt like it could be alright. Maybe things would not always be easy, but things could work. Ajaa had a lot of love and affection to give and a fear of no one wanting to love him, but sitting with him and the couch and hearing the honesty in his voice Julie knew that she did want to continue with him.

Julie kept cuddled against his side as she finished her meal bar, enjoying how Ajaa rested his head against the top of her’s and softly kissed her. They sat together for a few minutes just settling down after their talk before they left Ajaa’s apartment. The walk to the service elevator was quiet, it was early enough where not too many people were out yet and Julie felt a lot less self conscious about holding hands with him on the way there and then to the lab to get a pot for whatever plant they managed to find.

“There’s a clearing not too far from here where there’s a really good mix of plants” Ajaa said as he stepped off the path from the lab, “and it’s just beautiful down here in general’.

It really was stunning down on the planet floor as Julie followed Ajaa through the dense underbrush, though she was concerned about Ajaa navigating the uneven terrain, the last thing they needed was him falling and not being able to get up.

“Almost there, I promise” he told her. He pushed aside some low branches before turning around and offering his free hand to help Julie step over a fallen tree.

“That’s alright , it’s good to actually get out and do something” she smiled and climbed over the tree.

A few minutes later they emerged into a large clearing and the most beautiful place Julie had seen since arriving in Andromeda. There were more colors there in that clearing than she had ever seen at one time in her life and she knew that she had to have Ajaa take her back here again.

“Well, what do you think?” he asked, jerking Julie out of her daze.

“It’s amazing!” was all she could manage at the moment.

Ajaa was beaming, seeming pleased with himself that Julie was happy, “Should I have brought more flower pots?”

“I’m starting to think so” she said as she started to wander the clearing. There were plants in every possible color and shape, some almost resembled Earth plants, but most were unlike anything she had ever seen, “What’s your favorite one?” she asked.

“Most of them, but if I had to choose-” he scurried around the clearing looking for something, “-I’d have to say this one” he said stopping in front of a small plant with dark green leaves and purple flowers.

“What is it?” Julie asked. She knelt down next to the plant to get a better look at it, up close the leaves were variegated with darker stripes and the petals looked almost fuzzy.

“It’s called galaxy’s heart, when the flower is done blooming it gets little black and white speckles and it sort of looks like a sky at night” he told her, “and it’s my favorite color”.

“Purple’s a good color, and it looks good on you too” she smiled at him, “I think this one will look good at my place. Maybe we can come back another day and get another one”.

He laughed and sat down the flower pot, it was good to see him looking so happy, “Now who’s the one trying to make your place look like mine?”

“What? You might be onto something, maybe plants do help it feel like home” she laughed back.

“We can come down here whenever you want”. 

He quickly went to work carefully digging up the little plant and repotting it for her. Being outside seemed put him at ease, his movements were more sure and confident and Julie could have sworn there was a spring in his step.

It was good to be outside though. There was a life and energy in the glade that differed from in the city, everything was so sharp and clear down in the forests and Julie could not help but watch Ajaa with a smile as he wiped the dirt off his gloves.

“We can head back up whenever you want” he said as he handed her the plant.

“Thanks, let's stay a bit, I like it down here”.

His face lit up with such a smile from her words, happy that she seemed to be enjoying it down on the planet floor too. He reached out and offered his hand and Julie took it, allowing him to lead her to the edge of the clearing where he sat down against a tree and motioned for her to sit with him.

“So, do you bring everyone down here?” she teased as she let Ajaa help her sit down on his lap. He felt sturdy underneath her and she leaned her back against his chest.

“I don't think there are many people who'd think traipsing around the jungle to be very fun”.

“It's been a good change of pace”.

“I'm glad you like it”.

Julie felt deep rumble in his chest as he laughed and wrapped his arms around her. 

They sat together like that and just enjoyed the beauty of the clearing, watching the way the wind gently blew the tree branches and how the sunlight filtered through the canopy and made everything seem to shimmer.

“This is my favorite place here” he broke the silence.

“I can see why”.

“I used to come here a lot when I was younger just to get away and think, or when I was frustrated and needed to be alone for a bit, it always helped” he leaned down and rested his chin on top of Julie’s shoulder.

Everything felt right. Julie closed her eyes and leaned her head against the side of Ajaa’s, she could feel the soft buzz of electricity radiating off of his cowl and chest and it was starting to become a source of comfort to her. It tingled and crackled, but it never hurt, and had an almost relaxing effect.

“So what can angara do with the electricity?” she asked.

“Quite a bit actually. It's used for communication, like body language or facial expressions, and there's instruments that can be played with it. Strong bursts of it can be used as a way of fighting, and it can be channeled through a firaan as a weapon”.

“What's a firaan?”

“It's a short blade for fighting, someone decided that being stabbed wasn't bad enough so they made a way for it to channel electricity too”.

“Sounds unpleasant” Julie cringed at the thought.

“Oh I'm sure it is. But there's a lot of good feeling things about the electricity too, like electrotherapy to help with muscle pain or damage, or just to relax stiff muscles” he paused and ran his fingers along her arm, “or just soft tingles against skin that give you pleasant chills”.

Goosebumps covered her arm following Ajaa’s fingertips as he continued to trail them along her arm. Alright, so everything was still very new and strange, and Ajaa was not human, but new was also exciting. 

“I want to show you something, lean forwards a bit” he said and Julie complied.

He began to knead his palms into her shoulders and Julie could feel the now familiar tingle of electricity seeping into her muscles as Ajaa continued to massage her shoulders and work his way down her back.

“I used to have a lot of issues with the muscles in my back,” he began as he worked the stiff muscles around Julie’s shoulder blade, “The attack really shredded up a lot of the muscles in my back and for years after I got bad muscle tremors and they were always sore while they finished healing. My doctors had me doing electrotherapy and massage therapy to help and I picked up a few tricks”.

“Yeah, I can tell” Julie sighed. It felt amazing, any possible tension melted away from everywhere he worked and it was starting to lull her to sleep. 

Being there with Ajaa in the glade was more than she ever could have expected from Andromeda. When she had signed onto the Initiative she had been told no intelligent life existed in Heleus and her job would likely be teaching so that those who came after her would have the tools to handle new species if they ever did make contact. Instead she was living on a new planet and working on a planet directly with a new species.

_ Working very intimately,  _ she noted. While she had been lost in thought Ajaa had removed his gloves and Julie could feel the coolness of his skin on her bare shoulders where her tank top did not cover. His movements were softer now, instead of kneading into her shoulders like he had before he was slowly tracing shapes along her skin and the light touches coupled with the electricity was causing a tingling effect all over.

She absentmindedly reached down and stroked her fingers across the outside of Ajaa thigh, feeling a low rumbling purr vibrating in his chest as she continued. Her touched seemed to spur him on, he wrapped one of his arms around her and pulled her back up against his chest and brushed her hair off of her shoulders. The kisses he trailed along her shoulder lit her nerves on fire in the best possible way and she was sure it had something to with the bioelectrics, though regardless it was so easy to get lost tangled up him.

The kisses moved up towards her neck and she felt Ajaa flick his tongue against her skin here and there between the kisses. There was a pause as he reached the base of her neck, seemingly waiting on permission to continue. She found herself breathless as Ajaa’s breath tickled her neck as he waited and she dug her nails into his thigh, hoping he would get the message and continue.

Luckily he did. Her heart was pounding as he made his way up her neck, alternating between kisses and licks until she felt the gentle pressure of teeth on her skin.

She let out a surprised gasp as Ajaa nipped at her neck a bit harder which turned into a soft moan as lips and tongue replaced teeth along spot he bit.

“There's something about you, you know?” he began between kisses, “I won't lie, I was so annoyed with you when you tripped over me and I just wanted you to go away right then, but it was nice to talk to you the next day, nice to talk with someone who wasn't from here. And then it seemed like you just kept popping up”.

“I liked talking to you too” she managed. Finding words was difficult as her mind went blank as Ajaa picked back up with kissing along her neck.  _ God does that feel amazing,  _ was one of the few things running through her mind. It felt like he had started to vary the intensity of the electricity on purpose, matching strong pulses of it with bites and gentle waves with kisses. 

Another soft moan escaped her lips as his lips reached the bottom of her jaw and he carefully used the arm he had wrapped around her to turn her to face him like earlier on the couch. It was funny how much difference a few hours could make, his eyes were warm and welcoming opposed to how alien they felt earlier.

What felt like minutes passed as she sat straddling his hips, though he sat just watching her, one hand on her waist and one on the back of her head.  _ He's waiting for you,  _ she realized. He was waiting to see what she wanted to, what she was alright with. 

There was no doubt in her mind that Ajaa could tell how her heart was pounding, maybe he could sense it with the bioelectrics, or maybe he could just hear it, she knew it was a loud roar in her ears. She was nervous, very nervous. Sure he had been nothing but open and friendly, and very honest, and he was starting to seem a lot less alien, but there were still so many unknowns.

But the unknown could be exciting. Underlying her nervousness was the rush of excitement to figure him out. She wanted to know more about what he could do with the bioelectrics and experience it for herself after the taste she had already gotten. She wanted to know how the coolness of his skin felt against her’s. She wanted to know what it would be like to be with him.

It did not take any thought. Julie cupped Ajaa’s face in her hands and leaned into an unsteady kiss and immediately she felt a change with him. There was a spike in the current that constantly flowed under his skin, a move from a slight buzz into a raging storm for a few seconds before settling back down. His grip around her waist tightened and he pulled her flush against his chest as he began to kiss her back, tentatively at first before diving in.

His lips were soft against her’s, an almost chaste kiss for a moment, lips closed and pressed together while they both took time to process everything. Almost chaste. Ajaa wasted nearly no time swiping his tongue along Julie’s lips in hopes of gaining entry. His tongue was warm and wet against her lips and she parted her lips to allow him to explore.

_ Not human,  _ echoed in her mind. It definitely was not like kissing a human. His tongue was longer and wider than a human’s, and there was a slickness to him no human had. Still she continued the kiss, telling herself it was just something to get used to, that Ajaa probably was noticing the differences too and maybe everything was just as odd to him. 

They settled into a rhythm of sorts and Julie got up the courage to explore him back. She pushed her tongue into his mouth, determined to overcome some of the weirdness that was being with someone who was not human and dive head on into whatever they had. He yielded, pulling back and allowing her to run her tongue along his lips before she pressed into his mouth. There was a sharp contrast between the coolness of his skin and the warmth of his mouth that gave her chills and only made her want to explore more of him. Her hands traveled back from his face to his cowl, feeling the ridges on the back of head and she felt him moan into her mouth as her fingers brushed against the thinner skin under the ridges.

_ So that's what you like,  _ she noted and began to drag her nails along the sensitive skin.

It was easy to get him to come undone. He broke the kiss to bury his face in her neck and bit down hard as a second strong surge of electricity flowed off him and coursed through Julie’s nerves like liquid fire. The bite hurt, but the jolt left her feeling a pleasant tingly numbness all over which all but made up for it.

The rush of everything left her feeling breathless when Ajaa pulled away. A wave of embarrassment coursed through her as she realized that it had felt like more than just a kiss. Julie’s face was flush and she felt like she had just ran a marathon, her heart pounding and chest heaving as she realized she was out of breath, and maybe worse of all the kiss left her with a pleasant buzz still tingling all over.

_ Was that on purpose?  _ she wondered, the electric buzz was fading rapidly, only to be replaced with a warm afterglow. She knew what it felt like, though she did not want to admit it, especially if it had not been on purpose, but Ajaa’s bioelectrics left her with the same feeling as after after an orgasm. It was not one, nothing as intense or even sexual, but whatever he had done left her feeling on a bit of a high and every bit as relaxed.

It looked like Ajaa was feeling much the same way. His eyes were open, but he looked exhausted, he was breathing heavily through parted lips and Julie could feel his heart pounding through his chest. “I'd been hoping for that and it was even better than I thought it would be” he finally managed between breaths.

“Yeah, that was unexpected”.

A low rumble in his chest became tired laugh as he pulled her into a hug, “You feel amazing” he cooed, “Definitely not like an angara”.

“Definitely different than being with a human”.

“I like it,” he smiled and closed his eyes, “but takes a lot more out of me”.

“You look like you're about to pass out”.

“I feel like I could, you really drained me! It's hard to keep that up without getting electric energy back. I feel like I'm running on empty a bit”.

“Sorry about that” she muttered.

“Don't be sorry, I wouldn't have kept it up if I didn't like what I was getting from you”.

“You got something out of that?”

“Quite a bit actually, what did you think I meant when I said you felt amazing?” he smirked.

“I don't know, that you liked how my skin felt or something” it sounded dumb to say out loud, but it's what she had figured he meant.

“Well, there is that too, but human bioelectrics feel different than angaran, and while I just about always can feel yours, you felt amazing reacting to me”.

There was something deeply embarrassing about his wording. She was not exactly sure what he meant by human bioelectrics, but whatever his bioelectrics did to her, that buzz and afterglow, he knew.

A silence settled between them. Julie was not sure what to say, nor was she sure about what even just happened anymore.  _ It was more than a kiss, _ she was at least sure of that much now, and Ajaa’s wording made her wonder if it was almost sexual in nature.

“Maybe I should explain more” he broke the silence awkwardly. “You have a bioelectric field, you know that? Right? It's just the energy around you from neural impulses. It's pretty weak, and you can't consciously control it, but I can feel it. And whenever you felt my field, whether it was something I did on purpose or just the buzz in general, you reacted to it and your field got a bit stronger from absorbing the excess energy from me. I could feel what you felt to a degree and your reactions weren't anything like an angara’s” he trailed off but it seemed like he more to say.

_ It wasn't supposed to be sexual,  _ she sighed out relieved. Though the embarrassment of Ajaa knowing how it felt to her was nearly unbearable.

“I just need some time you rest,” he started up, “unfortunately you don't give off enough electricity for me to charge off of, burned through most of what I had stored up”.  He carefully shifted Julie off of his lap and pushed himself up on unsteady legs and wobbled out from the shade of the tree into the bright light of the clearing.  “At least we’re already outside” he turned to her and said. He held his arms out, reaching for her from across the clearing.

Julie joined him and he pulled her back into another embrace. It was warm in the sunlight without being too hot, but it felt nice to be wrapped in his arms again.

“I don't know how humans do any of this, but does this mean you'll have me?” he asked. His voice was soft as he spoke into the top of her head, a nervous question.

“I think I'd like to try”.

He lifted her off the ground and laughed as he spun her around, his eyes squinting from the light and from laughing as he leaned in to kiss her cheek. 

His laughter and giddiness was infectious and Julie buried her face in his neck as she giggled.  _ My boyfriend isn't human!  _ The thought bothered her less than she thought it would, things were still weird and new, but hearing how Ajaa pointed that that she was different to him too put her at ease, at least they both could get through the differences together.

He began to lower her down, though his balance was not steady and his arms shook a bit. Whatever he had done with the bioelectrics before really seemed to have worn him out and he strained to sit Julie down without dropping her. She felt her feet touch the ground, but it was not because Ajaa managed to sit her down, his legs gave out, causing them to both topple to the ground and land with a heavy thud.

Ajaa fell backwards, landing on his back and letting out a loud yelp in pain.

“Ajaa!” a bolt of panic surged through Julie and she quickly picked herself up to check on him. “Hold still, are you alright?”

His eyes were closed tight in pain and he was muttering something in Shelesh that her translator was not able to pick up. After a few tense moments he spoke, “Call Sivus”.


	8. Old Wounds, New Threats

“Do you know how dangerous this could have been?” Sivus yelled as he cut through the underbrush into the clearing. His voice was not angry, but it was laced with annoyance “It's uneven terrain, and there's all sorts of things to trip over! And I know I've told you before that I don't like the idea of you coming down here!”

“You have a problem with me coming down here alone, I wasn't alone! Julie’s here too! She's the one who called you after all!” Ajaa shouted back. “It's fine, see? I'm alive and conscious and you're here to help so can we just get going?”

“But what if she hadn't been here? What then? What if you fell and hit your head?”

“I wouldn't have been down here in the first place if I wasn't Julie! And I fell picking her up, not tripping. I could have done that at home!”

Ajaa and Sivus both seemed tense and Julie was seeing quite a new side of both of them. Sivus crossed the clearing in several long strides, he might have been short for an angara, but he still towered over her as he reached where Julie was sitting next to Ajaa. His arms were crossed and his lips were pursed tightly and it looked like he had a lot more to say though Paalka caught up to him and cut in before Sivus had the chance to say anything else.

“He's alright taoshay, he knows what he's capable of” Paalka wrapped his arm around Sivus’s shoulder and kissed the side of his cowl, “Let's just settle things here and head back up, Ajaa needs rest and I'm not enjoying the heat”.

Sivus’s shoulders slumped forwards as he knelt down by where Ajaa still was lying after he fell, “Sorry,” he apologized, “I know I get tense, I just worry”.

As quick as they both reacted, they fizzled back out. Ajaa reached up and patted the side of Sivus’s cowl, “You're worse than your mother, you know that?” he smirked.

“One of us has to be the responsible one”.

“Well, I'm glad it's you, means I get to do whatever the hell I want”.

“Just promise me next time you come down here you'll bring someone, alright?”

“I did bring some, but anything to get you to help me off my back”.

“Never thought I'd hear you say that” Sivus chuckled, “C’mon, roll over, you know the drill”.

Julie stood up and turned away to give them some space and privacy. “Are they always like that?” she asked Paalka.

“What? The teasing and half flirting? That's normal” he snorted back with a smirk.

“Well, that too I guess, but the anger and then suddenly getting along. Is that normal? Do they fight a lot or something?”

“Fight? Stars I don't think I've ever seen them fight, they squabble sometimes because Sivus worries a lot, but I really wouldn't even call what just happened a squabble”.

“Oh, it just seemed like- well they got a bit intense” she trailed off.

Paalka shrugged, “Sivus was really worried, you should have seen him on the way down, seemed like a pretty normal response to me” he shrugged back.

“Paalka!” Sivus called, “A little help?”

With Sivus and Paalka’s help Ajaa was able to stand up and Paalka supported Ajaa so he could walk. The three of them seemed to have a system and while Julie was happy to see that Ajaa had such good friends it also worried her how much things like this must happen. She picked up the plant Ajaa had so carefully got for her and fell in next to Sivus as they made their way topside.

“So,” Sivus began with a sly smile that Julie quickly decided that she did not like, “Can't help but notice that there's a lot going on here”.

They were far enough ahead of Paalka and Ajaa to be out of earshot and Julie was not sure if that was for the better or worse, “Hm?” she questioned.

“Secluded area, says he fell while picking you up, you both smell like each other, and his bio field is very weak. Not that it's really my business, but I did roll out of bed to come help, and surely you've got to know how this looks” he trailed off.

“You think that-? No it's was just- it's not like” she babbled. She was not sure why she was so flustered, but something about Sivus thinking they snuck down there for some reason to have sex got to her, “It was just a kiss” she finally managed.

“Huh,” Sivus tilted his head to the side, processing the new information, “All that over a kiss?”

“Well, it was the first time and-”

“Wait wait wait” Sivus stopped in his tracks, “you slept on his lap at my place and you're telling me that was the first kiss?” Sivus seemed absolutely bewildered at this revelation, “Y’know what? Doesn't matter, I'm just glad Ajaa’s happy” he glanced over his shoulder to where Paalka and Ajaa were trailing behind them and smiled.

“You two are pretty close aren't you?”

“Yeah, he's my oldest friend. Met when we were twelve when my parents were stationed here and we kept in touch when my family moved back to Voeld. Imagine my surprise when I got moved here to work on the science team and there's Ajaa!” he let out a small laugh, “The last time I had seen him he hadn't been able to walk almost at all, and then I got there and he's doing really well! It really does make me happy to see how much better he’s doing now”.

The way he smiled as he told her about Ajaa was infectious and Julie glanced over her shoulder too to look back at Ajaa and Paalka. Ajaa still looked tired and he was dragging his feet, but he looked happy and smiled when he noticed Julie watching him.

“Now that's a smile” Sivus chided and elbowed her, “I’m glad he seems to make you happy too”.

“He's a great guy”.

Time passed quickly as they made their way up to the city and to Ajaa’s apartment.

“Thanks again for coming down and helping” Ajaa said as Paalka eased him down onto the couch.

“Of course” Paalka smiled.

“Not like we’d just leave you there” Sivus chimed in, “Now, how are you feeling? Do you need anything?”

“Could you move the electrolamp over closer?” Ajaa asked.

“Of course. Feeling a bit drained?” Sivus moved a lamp from across the room onto the coffee table in front of the couch.

“Yeah, it’s been a day”.

“Do you want us to stay?” Sivus asked, he seemed concerned as he gave Ajaa a quick once over.

“I’m alright, I just need to relax for a bit, I'm sure you have stuff to do”.

“Nothing that can't wait, just let us know if you need anything”.

“Go on, I'm fine” Ajaa urged him.

Sivus placed his hand on the side of Ajaa’s cowl and rested his forehead against Ajaa’s for a moment, “Call me if you need anything, alright?”

“Always do” he returned the gesture and placed his hand on the side of Sivus's cowl for a moment.

Sivus and Paalka left, closing the door behind them and leaving a heavy silence in the room.

“You don't have to stay either” Ajaa began, “I know I promised we’d do something today and that's probably not happening now, and I know you probably have things to do” he trailed off.

Julie sat down next to him and placed her hand on the side of his cowl the same way she had seen Ajaa and Sivus do with each other, “We were going to spend the day together, and I'd still like to”.

She still was not sure what they gesture meant, but Ajaa mimicked her and cupped the side of her face and leaned in to rest his forehead to her’s for a moment, “I’d like that” he smiled.

_ Wow, he has a really nice smile.  _ She found herself watching his mouth as he smiled,  _ So many teeth, so very far from human.  _ Looking over his face she saw what she had already seen, black sclera, slitted pupils, a mouth with too many teeth, though everything was starting to become comforting instead of strange and alien.

For the second time they kissed, this time softer and gentler, lips and eyes closed as they leaned into each other. There was no rush of electricity this time, just Ajaa’s constant, pleasant buzz as she pulled back.

“Wow,” he sounded breathless, maybe it's from the kiss, maybe it was from already being exhausted, either way it made her smile, “I don't know if I'll ever get used to that”.

“I know what you mean” she settled down against his chest and closed her eyes. His heart was beating its steady waltz, another thing she was getting used to, and she counted the rhythmic 1-2-3 cadence of it.

“You should tell me more about Earth” Ajaa sighed as he began to run his fingers through her hair. It seemed to have become a comforting habit for him.

“And what do you want to hear about?”

“Anything. Everything. Did you have a favorite place on earth?”

“I don't know. I mean there were places I liked, but nothing exciting or worth talking about”.

“If you like it then I want to hear about it” he encouraged her.

“Well, there was a little park with a big old oak tree with a swing where I grew up on the military base with my parents. I used to love to go down there and bring a book and read, or just lay in the shade under the tree. It was peaceful”.

“That does sound peaceful, like the clearing” he hummed, “What's swing?”

A smile curled across her lips, “I’ll show you”. Julie swiped her fingers along her omni tool to find the pictures and videos she had archived from the Milky Way, among them were many home videos of her family and childhood. She settled on one, her mother was between deployments and was pushing a small Julie on the swing in the park while her father filmed them.

“Your mother?” he asked.

“Yeah, she was gone so much on deployment, so we did a lot when she was around, she liked to make up for missed time”.

She felt Ajaa wrap his arms around her, it was a comforting feeling, a universal constant regardless of galaxy. “Would you like to put a swing in the clearing? I know it could never be the same, but would it make you happy?” he asked.

“You don't have to do anything like that”.

“But would it make you happy? Would you like to have somewhere that reminds you of Earth?”

“It might be nice”.

“I'll see what I can do, swings don't seem too difficult” he smiled, “You traveled 600 years through dark space to be here, the least I can is to try to find someway to help you adjust to being here”.

They spent the afternoon going through whatever family photos and home videos Julie had and Ajaa’s never ending stream of questions about them.

“So human babies can't walk at birth either?” he asked as Julie played a video of her taking her first few wobbly steps.

“Nah, humans are born underdeveloped technically, we start walking around a year old” she answered.

“Angara children walk around two years old, they just sort of wiggle and roll until then”.

“Baby angara roll around?”  _ Now that's a mental imagine,  _ she laughed inwardly, “No crawling?”

“Angaran legs aren't really suited to be on all fours for very long, not a great method for getting around for us".

“What I wouldn't give to see a video of you as a baby rolling around, I bet you were cute” she teased.

“I was absolutely adorable I'll have you know. My other mothers used to squabble over who got to watch me when my true mother was out, everyone loves a chubby rolling baby”.

“Aww, you were a chubby baby?” 

He laughed and Julie could feel it vibrating through his chest, “Yeah, I was a middle child to my true mother, but my younger siblings and I were the youngest children of my other mothers, they liked to fuss over me and spoil me”.

“It sounds like a nice way to grow up, surrounded by so much family. I’m a bit jealous, it was mostly just me and my dad”.

“But you had your parents’ undivided attention, that must have been nice at least”.

“I suppose so” she shrugged. She could not say she was lonely growing up, but there were not many kids around her age on the base either. “How many siblings did you have?”

“Seven by blood, another 16 by my other mothers. A pretty small family” he answered, his voice became flat and neutral and Julie regretted asking him.

“I’m sorry” she apologized.

“Don’t apologize, it has nothing to do with you. The kett attacked years before your people got here and nothing can change what happened”.

“I know,” she began, “I just feel bad bringing it up, it's not a pleasant thing to talk about”.

“No, it's not” he paused and seemed to settle himself before continuing, “but it happened and it hurts to accept and there's nothing to do besides look forward”.

Julie wrapped her arms around Ajaa, unsure what to actually say but still wanting to show support for him.  “I guess it's not the same and maybe it’s not as bad,” she began, “but I sort of know how you feel. I know I chose to leave my family behind, but it does hurt to remember that everyone I've ever known died hundreds of years ago”.

“Pain isn't a contest,” Julie could feel his lips brush the top of her head as he spoke, “You lost people too, and regardless of how, it still hurts. Time makes it a little better, it takes away some of the edge, but instead it becomes a dull ache that settles in during the quiet moments”.

Over the last few days the fact that she had left everyone she knew behind in another galaxy had been setting in. Maybe it was being on Aya surrounded by people who had each other, maybe it was just the natural course of things, either way she felt the familiar crushing weight and loneliness start to set in. With the heavy restrictions placed on how much could be brought to Andromeda Julie had decided that videos and photos where a better idea than sentimental objects, though now she desperately wished she had brought more physical items with her.

“Do you have anything left from your family?” Julie broke the silence and asked, “I brought a stuffed bear with me, my mom gave it to me when I was little so I could have something to hold when I missed her while she was deployed and I couldn't stand to leave it when I came to Andromeda. It helps a little”.

“My true father’s rofjinn. It's not in good shape but it's nice to have” his voice was flat.

“What's a rofjinn?”

“Formal wear. It's worn for ceremonies or important meetings. They're very personal, a family member makes it for you and the colors and patterns tell about the person you are”.

She had not looked up at his face, but she did not need to. She could feel his grip tighten around her as some trace of emotion seeped back into his voice.

“I wear his whenever it's needed, it's a good reminder of where I came from, but it's never felt right. It tells his story, the patches where my mother fixed it because he was clumsy and torn it here and there, it's the colors he liked, motifs that represented him”.

The familiar surge of electricity was building under his skin again

“I don't have my own rofjinn, I was young when the kett attacked, too young for someone to make mine”.

Julie did not know what to say. It hurt to see him so distressed, to see old wounds opening up again to show that they had never fully healed. “Does it have to be a family member who makes it?”

“I suppose not, but who else would be close enough to me to make something so personal? Sivus’s true mother is a kind woman and has offered to make mine a few times, and I appreciate the offer immensely, but it's just not quite right. She's kind, but we’re not that close. I have my father’s and it's not quite right either, but it's what I have”.

It was hard to find words in moments like these, hard to find a way to word ‘I'm sorry you lost your entire family and now are missing out on something so important to your people’. Instead she settled on reaching up and tracing shapes along his cowl and the back of his head.

“It's alright,” he pulled her hand away from his cowl and trailed kisses along her palm and wrist, “there are worse things in life than not having a rofjinn. I have a job I love, and amazing friends, and I've gotten to meet people from another galaxy and one of them liked me enough to be sitting here with me”.

“You bounce back quick, don't you?”

“It doesn't do well to dwell on things. I spent many years being angry and consumed by it. It was hard growing up not being able to run and play with other kids, it was lonely. I resented the Resistance for not being able to protect my daar, and the doctors for not being able to fix all my injuries, I spent years wondering what my life could even be after everything that happened.

“Things aren't perfect, there are days where everything hurts, there are days where I can't walk or keep a grip on things, but I'm alive and doing better than I ever thought I could. I spent my time being miserable and it took a lot to find reasons to be genuinely happy and I want to keep being happy as best I can even when it's hard”.

“I'm glad you're doing better”.

“So am I” he pulled her into his lap and wrapped his arms around her waist while she settled down and leaned back on his chest. “I have a question though”.

“Of course”.

“What is a stuffed bear?”

Julie laughed and turned around to bury her face in Ajaa’s neck, “A toy, I’ll show you next time you're over. My turn for a question, what is that lamp for?” she gestured at the lamp Ajaa had Sivus move to the table for him earlier.

“It's an electrolamp, it's a stand in for sunlight or just a good way to build a charge back up”.

“You have to recharge like a battery?” she giggled “I knew you needed sunlight but you actually store it or something?”

“What did you think the cowl was for?” he laughed back.

“I don't know”.

“Feel” he guided her hand up to his cowl, “Feel that?”

“There's a buzz” the soft buzz of electricity was always stronger around his cowl.

“I don't know how humans are, but angara draw on that energy to help boost immune systems and heal injuries, or communicate, there's ways to channel it in attacks, or even play instruments.

Julie pressed her fingertips against his cowl, feeling the give to the soft skin. “Your cowl is squishy”.

“So are parts of you” he affectionately gave her side a squeeze.

“Is your cowl sensitive?”

“Yeah, a lot of nerves there. It feels good when you trace shapes on it or just touch it in general though”.

“Come here then,” Julie climbed off his lap and gently tugged his head down into her lap, “You're tired right? Just relax”.

She could have sworn she felt him purring as settled down on her lap while she continued to trace the curves of his cowl. There was comfort in the weight of his head on her lap and the way he looked up and softly smiled at her.

Ajaa reached up and cupped the side of her face, “Can I have a kiss?”

“Of course” Julie bent down the best she could and Ajaa met her halfway for a quick kiss.

He smiled as he pulled and away and settled back down on her lap “Sorry if I fall asleep, just feeling a little drained”.

“That's alright”.

“I just feel bad, I'm tired a lot in general, but I promised we’d do something today”.

“And we did. You tried some human food, and you showed me the clearing and got me a plant, and I showed you the pics and videos of my family I brought. We did a lot today, now you need to rest” Julie fidgeted with the thinner, darker more membrane like skin on his cowl.

“I suppose you're right” he conceded, “Are you comfortable though?”

“Don't worry, I'm just fine” Julie swapped to tracing along the speckles on the top of his head and followed their path down the center of his face and gave his nose a tap where they ended, they almost reminded her of freckles. “And if you fall asleep I'll still be here when you wake up, I promise”.

“Thank you for being here”.

“I don't have anywhere else I'd rather be” she told him. It was true, at least for andromeda.

Ajaa lifted up the bottom of Julie’s shirt trailed a few kisses along her stomach before closing his eyes. His lips were cool and almost tickled, but it was nice.

It only took moments for him to fall asleep, seemingly exhausted from everything,  _ It must be tough,  _ she thought. Julie remembered back to when she tripped over him the first day she met him, she had halted his work and now she wondered if he had to spend the rest of the afternoon sleeping after that. Then how tired he was after they left Sivus and Paalka’s after she had fallen asleep on his lap and knocked out the neural connection and how he had gone right back to sleep at her place. 

Sleep never came to her, not truly. Every time she would nod off memories from the Milky Way sprung up and settled in her stomach. 

_ You left them all behind. You left while your mom was deployed. You'll never see them again. You abandoned them.  _ Julie was not sure how long she sat like that but she felt her eyes tearing up. 

_ You don't have the right to be sad,  _ she scolded herself,  _ you chose this.  _ She felt a few tears start to roll down her cheeks and quickly wiped them away before she woke up Ajaa, it felt selfish to make him deal with it too.

_ You're here now, there's nothing you can do about it now.  _ Julie leaned her head back and stared up at the ceiling. 

She was not sure how long she zoned out for and stayed lost in her thoughts but the thoughts seemed to echo for hours before she felt Ajaa begin to stir and wake. Julie forced a smile in the hopes of nothing seeming off before looking down at him, “Hello handsome”.

“Hello beautiful” he smiled back, “How are you doing”.

“Just fine” she lied, thoughts still full of everything left behind.

“You know you could always stay over here tonight”. He looked so happy as he reached out for Julie’s hand and planted soft kisses along her wrist, which almost drove all the dark thoughts out of Julie’s mind.

“I need to do laundry, and eat, and shower, and you have work in the morning, don't you?”

“Yeah. Can I see you tomorrow though?”

“Of course” Julie ran her fingers along the side of his cowl, “I can come over when you get off work”.

“How about visiting me at the lab for lunch?”

“Sure, just let me know when to come down, but for now I think I need to get going”.

“I'll walk you home” Ajaa started to get up.

“That's alright, I know you're tired”.

“I had a nap and I'd feel safer walking you home”

“Everyone seems so concerned about my safety, do you really think something could happen on Aya?”

Ajaa paused, “I don't know, and I really don't want to find out. Let me walk you home?”

“Fine, but only to the blast doors to the docks, I don't need you walking through the docks”.

He leaned up and pressed a kiss to her lips “It's a deal”.

* * *

 

Ajaa watched the heavy doors seal closed. She really was something else, this funny little alien that had quite literally tripped into his life. 

He hummed to himself quietly as he made his way back towards his apartment and feeling a lot more cheerful than he could recall in recent times.

There was a presence that seemed to hang around, making him feel like he was being watched. Ajaa preferred to keep to side roads most of the time, any way to take a shortcut and spend less time on his feet, though right now he was questioning his choice.

Ajaa turned around to quell his nerves though everything was quiet as it should have been.

“Ajaa!”

He nearly leapt out of his skin as he jerked back forward.

“See you found a pet” said the man standing in front of him.

“Malai” he nearly snarled, “figured you'd be dead by now”.

“That's not very nice, and here I thought we were friends” Malai’s smile was too cheerful and his stance too open and friendly for Ajaa’s liking.

“Were friends. Exactly”.

Malai shrugged, “I really thought we were more alike, I really did think you'd join us, though apparently you're alright with invaders even after what the kett did to your daar”.

“They're different”.

“Really? After what they did on Kadara? You really think these aliens won't turn on us too? You heard the stories about the kett, they were friendly at first too, then they turned us against each other and waited for our people to destroy ourselves before swooping up to finish the job!” Malai nearly shouted.

“I trust them”.

“Oh I can see that, you smell like one of them” Malai spat, “You know there's angara who'd be interested in you? You didn't have to resort to some alien, there's better ways to get laid-”

“Shut up” Ajaa balled his hands into fists at his side, willing his temper down. Very few things got to him anymore, he had made peace with his injuries, and what happened to his family, and everything else that had piled up over the years, but this was not about him. It was what Malai represented and the threat he posed.

“You of all people, I really thought you'd understand” Malai shrugged.

“If you- if you or anyone else dare lay a finger on her I’ll-”

Malai laughed, “I'm not interested in your little pet, I've got much bigger things to worry about though I can't guarantee that some of the others don't have an interest in all this”.

_ He’s laughing, this is just a joke to him, just a fucking game.  _ He wanted to punch him, knock that smug, condescending smile of his face but he did not trust his balance if he lunged after Malai.

“This has been nice, but I've got other things to do. I'll be seeing you and her around” he turned to leave, “Oh, and you're awfully brave to just leave her at the docks like that, probably not the best call”.

“What did you- Malai! What did you do?” he called as Malai walked away, “Malai!”

“Better start running”.

* * *

  
  


Julie sat down on the couch with another meal bar. Laundry was currently in the washing machine, lunch was in progress, and now it was time to just sort through thoughts. She felt bad about leaving from Ajaa’s so quickly, but she was not sure how long she could have kept up that smile.

Something heavy slammed into the door with a loud crash, jarring Julie out of her daze and making her nearly jump off the couch. It was quickly followed by another and another, as if something was trying to get in.

Cautiously she tiptoed over to the door, Sivus and Ajaa’s words of warning echoed in her head and made her hair stand on end.  _ Surely no one would be that bold,  _ she tried to reason. It was still daylight and the docks were too busy for anyone to break in unnoticed, could people like the man from the market who called her  _ vesagra  _ really be that determined.

There was no peep hole on the door, no way to see who or what was out there trying to get in. Julie considered calling Ajaa to tell him to alert the Resistance to see if they could send out a few guards to deal with whatever was out there, but her heart was racing and the fear of the unknown was unbearable.

“Who's there?” She called out, hoping to hear an answer through the thick door.

A muffled voice came through, “Open up!”

“Who's there?” She called again, this time a bit more frantically.

“It's me!” came the voice, still soft through the door.

_ Ajaa?  _ Julie paused. It sounded like him, but what reason would he have to be there?

Hesitantly she reached out and unlocked the door and readied herself to bolt out if necessary. She slowly opened the door, hoping to get the jump on whoever it was if need be, and a flood of relief surged through her as she saw that it really was Ajaa standing there.

“Ajaa! Why are you-”

“Are you alright?” he blurted out. He was out of breath and very shaky.

“Yeah. I'm fine” Julie began as Ajaa let himself in and frantically began searching around.

“No one has come by? Nothing weird?” he asked while he started looking under the couch.

His panic and franticness worried her. She was still getting to know him for sure, but this seemed out of character. “Can you just tell me what's going on?”

He continued with his frantic searching, now in the kitchen, “On my way back home I- there was” he paused and stared down into the drawer he had just wrenched open, his stare was intense and threatening to burn a hole through it while he seemed to gather his thoughts, “Just a bad feeling”.

Something was not right, that much Julie could tell for sure, but what exactly she was not sure about. “Come here,” she said as she pulled him away from the kitchen and to the couch, “You're freaked out, out of breath, and shaking, you need to sit down and breathe”.

Ajaa did not protest as Julie lead him away from his search and he settled down onto the couch with her. “And you're sure that nothing seems out of the ordinary?” he asked again.

“I'm sure, I promise”.

The look on his face could only be described as pure relief before he leaned back and closed his eyes, “Oh thank the stars” he mumbled.

How much he was shaking bothered Julie, whatever threat he was worried about had really gotten to him. Julie placed her hand on top of his leg, anything to give him a bit of comfort, “All this over a bad feeling?”

“Yeah” he answered dryly.

“You could have called”.

“I know, I just panicked. Sorry”. He seemed entirely defeated and whatever adrenaline had been fueling him seemed to be wearing off, leaving him looking worse than Julie had seen him look before.

“It's alright, nothing to apologize for, I just want to make sure you're alright”.

His breathing was labored and Julie could feel his bioelectric field going crazy, “I'm alright, I just need a moment before I head out”.

“Oh no, you're not going anywhere any time soon, especially walking through the docks. Stay here as long as you need”. She entwined her fingers with his and gave his hand a reassuring squeeze, “You don’t have to worry so much”.

“Thank you”. He leaned over to rest his head against hers.

“Of course”. The electricity against her lips felt funny as she kissed his cowl, but it was something she was slowly getting used to. “You can stay over tonight if you need”.

“Might be a good idea,” he paused for a moment before finding his voice to ask a question, “Will you still come visit me tomorrow for lunch?”

“Of course”.


	9. A New Home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So for those of you who don't know, I can be found at http://commandershepardvasfuckit.tumblr.com/ ! 
> 
> Also I crocheted a little Ajaa muffin (http://commandershepardvasfuckit.tumblr.com/post/169355798590) and I have a Jaal and Ryder set too! http://commandershepardvasfuckit.tumblr.com/post/169079907660
> 
> I have a tag for just screaming about Ajaa http://commandershepardvasfuckit.tumblr.com/tagged/ajaa-na-rova where there's a lot of little facts and other things about him. Also someone asked me about his dick recently so somewhere in the tag there is absolutely a very sad doodle because I'm not an artist for sure

Julie waved to the Resistance soldier by the freight lift on her way down to the labs to meet Ajaa for lunch. The soldier gave a nod as Julie boarded the elevator down to the planet floor. Ajaa had been emphatic about Julie being there on time right when his lunch began, though that was pretty typical for him.  He had assured her that morning that he had everything covered for lunch and for her not to worry about bring anything with her. He liked things to run smoothly, be on time, and be organized.

The elevator lurched to a sudden stop as it reached the ground and the doors scraped open into the storage bay that led out to all the science buildings. Several of the workers unloading cargo smiled or waved as she passed and she smiled back. Aya was friendly, or at least it was getting to be.

The agricultural lab was one of the last buildings down the path, a spacious single floored building surrounded by farmland that had become familiar to Julie in the last month. It was unlocked as usual and the comforting hum of lab equipment filled the air as she stepped into the lab.

“Thank the stars you’re finally here” grumbled Sivus, “Ajaa has been distracted all day and I’m pretty sure that he’s about to self destruct from anticipation”.

“Come now, be patient. He’s just excited that it’s been a month already” Paalka cut in, “Or do you not remember what it’s like to first fall for someone.I remember how you were right when we first got together” he smiled.

Sivus rolled his eyes but cracked a smile, “He’s in the side room as always, still working with those climbing stars”.

“Thanks” she nodded back. She knocked on the side door and opened it up, “Ajaa?” she called out.

“Julie!” Ajaa barreled towards her from across the room and swept her up into a hug, “Finally you’re here!”

“I’m here on time.”

“I know, I’ve just been a little excited” he was absolutely beaming in the dim light of the climbing stars.

“Yeah, I know. I think you’re driving Sivus a little crazy though.”

He laughed, it was rich and warm and Julie could feel the vibrations of it throughout herself as Ajaa still held her in the hug, “Come on my dear, I have something I want to show you”. He quickly released Julie and scooped up a bag before making his way back out into the main room, “See you tomorrow!” he called out to the others as they left the lab.

“Tomorrow? You’re not going back after lunch?” Julie asked.

“I took the rest of the day off, I wanted to do something special since it’s been a month” he said.

“An Ayan month” Julie added, “It was a month to me almost two weeks ago”.

“Mmm, but that’s Galactic Standard Time and we’re on Aya, so it’s only been a month today. And Galactic Standard hardly applies since it’s technically Galactic Standard of the Milky Way and now you’re in Andromeda”.

“Alrighty then. So where are we going?” she asked as Ajaa guided her off the path from the lab and into the forest.

“It’s a surprise, I thought we could have a little picnic”.

She let Ajaa guide her through the dense underbrush as he fussed over making sure that she did not trip over anything, though she was much more worried over him tripping over something.

“Just a little bit further” he said. They walked hand-in-hand for a while though Ajaa seemed a bit too excited and caught up in everything to make conversation. 

“So I take it we’re not going to the clearing?” she asked.

“Not this time, but I think you’ll like this place just as much”.

Julie loved the clearing. They had visited it a few more times after the first time Ajaa had brought her there, though they had been a lot more careful subsequent times so that they would not have to call Sivus and Paalka down for help.

“Alright, close your eyes and I’ll guide you the rest of the way” he instructed her.

She let him guide her with careful steps the rest of the way until she felt the ground even out under her feet.

“Ok, open your eyes” he said.

It was another glade, but much smaller than the clearing. Large trees around the edges bathed everything in dancing shadows and there was a creek that trickled down a small fall into a reflection pool on the opposite side of where they entered.

“It's beautiful” she gasped.

“I thought it would be a nice spot for a picnic. I've been waiting for a special occasion to bring you here and I figured that making it a month without driving you crazy was a pretty good reason”. He was smiling and confident enough to joke, less nervous about being together now, which was a nice change for sure.

Julie wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him down into a kiss. She felt the soft buzz of electricity on her lips as she pulled away, “I know you're joking, but I hope you really do know I don't think you're tedious or handful or anything”.

“I think I've figure that out” he said and kissed her back.

She closed her eyes and leaned up into the kiss. The feeling of newness had still not worn off for her, the rush and butterflies every kiss, still learning about Ajaa and the angara, all the pleasant surprises that came with any new relationship.

Ajaa pulled away and busied himself with the bag he brought, digging around until he found a large blanket and spread it out on the ground for them to sit on. “I hope everything is alright, I tried to find things we’d both like and I'm sure how I did, but I brought some back ups just in case”.

“I'm sure it'll just fine” she reassured him. He was always fussing over her, worrying if she was too cold while she was at his place, making sure she was always comfortable, anything he could think of really, though he managed to never be overbearing.

He started unpacking what he brought, all sorts of things wrapped in paper or stored in boxes along with all sorts of fruits. “So I did some cooking too, and I'd like to think I'm a fairly good cook though humans seem to have a different sense of taste so I guess we’ll find out”.

“Angaran or human cooking?”

“Oh stars, angaran cooking! I don't think I'm brave enough to tackle human cooking for now, but I did get a hold of some stuff I think you'll be interested in”.

Julie sat down next to him and leaned on his shoulder. She had gotten used to Ajaa’s need for constant physical contact over the last few weeks and now she felt a bit off without contact when he was around too.

The first thing he unwrapped looked like a few pieces of some sort of flat bread, followed by several containers of roasted vegetables and what might have been a type of beans, “According to Initiative data nothing here should be dangerous for you to eat, and I cleared it with your records to make sure you didn't have any allergies either. Oh,” he paused and looked over at Julie as his train of thought caught up with him, “That's not too weird or invasive, is it?”

There was a learning curve between humans and angara for sure. It had taken a bit, but it finally had sunk in for Ajaa that humans had more boundaries than angara did.

“A bit much, but not over the top. But I do appreciate that lunch won't kill me though” she kissed his cowl to assure him that it was alright, “So what all do we have?”

Ajaa went over everything. The flatbread was exactly what it seemed and was called  _ tahaan _ , made from something called  _ tahaa  _ predictably _.  _ The vegetables were a mix of a few root vegetables, along with what Julie could only imagine what Ajaa was trying to explain to be a gourd, and various colorful chopped veggies. There was something similar to soybeans that Ajaa explained was staple protein for the angara, and a spread made from a different sort of bean that was for the flatbread.

“Quite a bit going on here” she noted as she took it all in”.

“Just wanted to make sure you got the full experience of angaran foods” he smiled back.

Julie watched as Ajaa ripped of a piece of the flatbread and dipped it into the spread and then reached into the containers to pile the vegetables on to it.  She followed suit and began putting a bit of everything onto her bread too. 

Ajaa was watching her closely, waiting for affirmation that everything was good as she took a bite. The flatbread was almost sweet, but it was balanced out by the bitterness of some of the vegetables and there was a blend of familiar and new flavors.

“It’s good” she assured him.

A smile crept across his face as he leaned over to hug her, “Good, I wanted to make everything was perfect”.

The two continued their meal, Ajaa occasionally speaking up to talk about the different foods or angaran cooking. It was nice. Adjusting to life on in Andromeda and on Aya had not been easy, though having Ajaa and his friends sure did make everything a little easier, and now sitting there with Ajaa doing something as sweet and normal as having a picnic really did make Julie feel like she belonged there.

“I have two more surprises” Ajaa chimed up with a smile as they finished eating, “Close your eyes”.

“Should I be worried?” she joked a n d compiled. She heard him rustling around in the bag he brought.

“Open your mouth”.

She felt something graze her lips and tongue, something rough but familiar as she bit down on whatever Ajaa was excited to show her, “It’s a strawberry” she smiled, “How in the world did you get a hold of strawberries?” she asked and opened her eyes to see the little box of a few strawberries in his hands.

“You know how I’ve been sharing research data with the Nexus agricultural team? Well I’ve built of a bit of a rapport with them so when I mentioned that I was trying to find Earth foods for you they sent me a few of these as thanks for sharing my data with them” he said with a triumphant smile, “They’re part of the first harvest of Earth fruits in Andromeda”.

She wanted to cry. Finally something familiar in this new life, such a small gesture but the weight it carried settled in her heart and gave her such a comforting feeling. Ajaa was thoughtful, he was always trying to make sure she was happy and adjusting to everything and the fact he managed to get even just a few strawberries for her meant the world.

“Are you alright?” Ajaa reached out and wrapped an arm around her shoulder.

“I’m more than alright. I- I don’t think you know how much this means to me, but thank you’.

Ajaa pulled her into his lap and kissed along her cheek, “Then it was worth it, anything to make you happy is worth it”.

Julie held up a strawberry for Ajaa to try, wanting to share the moment with him.

“There will be other times for me to try them, they won't be the only strawberries in Andromeda. Take your time and enjoy them, but I do have one more surprise for you”.

The few strawberries did not last long, but in the nearly two months she had been in Andromeda it was the happiest Julie had been.

“Close your eyes” he said again and smiled.

She turned around to face him and immediately opened her mouth.

Ajaa laughed, it was a low rumbling growl almost, “I feel like there's a comment to be made about finding an easy way to get you to open your mouth”.

“Ajaa!” Julie yelled and smacked his arm.

“In my defense I didn't actually make the comment” he smiled and kissed her forehead, “but you're right, it's food. Open your mouth again and I promise not to make dumb comments?”

She obliged and waited for Ajaa’s next surprise. Something hard touched her tongue and it took a moment for the flavor to set it. “Chocolate” she smiled and opened her eyes, “Don't tell me you somehow got this from the Nexus team too?”

“The cultural exchange actually. I told them I wanted to better understand human culture to bond with my human girlfriend and wanted to find some sort of human sweets to try and somehow they found this for me” he said, giving the box a shake for emphasis, “Apparently chocolate is supposed to be a good way to win over a human”.

“You already won me over”.

“I know, but doesn't mean I'm ever going to stop trying to do the best I can for you”.

_ A new life but a good one,  _ she thought to herself. Things would be alright in Andromeda, Ajaa was happy to do anything he could to comfort her, she had made friends here on Aya, and every passing day this new home felt less and less strange. 

She threw her arms around his neck kissed him. It started soft and quickly deepened, her tongue pressing against his lips seeking entry that he happily gave her. She felt his arms tighten around her waist and pull her tight against him as he leaned back on to the ground. Her knees bumped against the ground as she settled on top of him but neither of them broke the kiss. One of his hands traveled up her back and he entwined his fingers into her hair while Julie moved her hands to stroke his cowl.

Ajaa pressed his tongue into her mouth with a moan. He was always vocal while he kissed, moaning and whining into her mouth while his hands gently explored along her.

He had not brought up sex after the first time it came up, and Julie was still not sure how she felt about it, but the kissing was something she had absolutely gotten used to. Every kiss had a tingle of electricity to it; it always started from where he was touching her, his hands, his lips, and spread all over leaving her with a pleasant tingly numbness.

“Julie”, he paused and began, breaking the kiss. He was looking up at her with such a soft look, a smile on his parted lips, “I love you”.

“I love you too, Ajaa” she plunged back into the kiss, deftly parting his lips and swirling her tongue around his. Her heart raced at his confession, not that she was surprised in the slightest, but there was still a rush from hearing it.

His hand still on her lower back pressed her down against him and she felt him roll his hips up against hers while he sat back up. She would be lying if she said the friction from it did not feel good, or that the sudden sting of his teeth on her neck did not send a jolt down her spine straight between her legs as he continues to roll his hips up against her’s.

“Ajaa” she whined, still very conflicted about how she felt about everything.

He froze, his lips still against her neck and suddenly very aware of everything as his train of thought caught up with him. “Sorry,” he muttered, “Got a little carried away”.

“It's alright” Julie reassured him. It was still a lot to handle even after an Ayan month. She still did not know a thing about angaran anatomy or if anything was even possible between them, which only made her more nervous.  _ What if it's not possible? What if that makes it awkward?  _ Julie climbed down off of his lap and leaned her head against his shoulder.

“I actually have one more surprise” he said, “Not food though, something I want to show you” he stood up and offered his hand to Julie to help her to her feet.

Julie took his hand, happy to see that nothing felt awkward. She helped him tidy up their picnic and pack everything back up and followed him through the unseen trails of the forest as thunder began to rumble overhead.

It was a bit of a walk, and not through the easiest terrain.  _ Sivus would have a fit if he saw this, _ Julie smirked to herself as the the two made sure not to trip over anything.

“Any guess where we’re going?” he asked.

“Not really, the only other place I've been to down here is the clearing so if it's not there then I have no clue”.

A few minutes later they reached the clearing and Ajaa had the widest grin on his face, “Notice anything?” he asked.

Julie looked around, everything looked the same. Same trees, same plants, same place. “It's looks the same to me”.

“Look closer” he nudged her into the clearing.

She began to wander the clearing, slowly making her way around the perimeter.  _ Tree, tree, bush, tree,  _ she paused as she found Ajaa’s surprise, “A swing! You put a swing down here for me!” she nearly squealed. It was hanging from the same tree they laid under the first time Ajaa had brought her down there and it was perfect.

Ajaa crossed the clearing and wrapped his arms around her waist from behind, “I promised you I'd put a swing down here the same day I brought you here the first time, and now you have somewhere to remind you of Earth” he kissed the side of her cheek, “I hope it makes you happy”.

Tears welled up. Happy tears, but tears for sure.  _ The strawberries, the chocolate, cooking for me, the whole picnic, and the swing! _ It was a lot to take in, but everything settled in her heart and gave her a feeling of comfort and warmth that she had not really felt since she woke up in Heleus. He cared a lot, far more than anyone else ever had, and Julie was not sure just what she had done to find someone like him.

“You are everything to me” he began, “We grew up 600 years and galaxies apart from each other, and it really does seem like the stars themselves sent you to me. I spent years trying to find someone who treats me like I am whole and as I gave up you practically feel from the sky. I hope one day to share my home and life with you if you feel the same about me, but for now I don't need any kind of answer, I just need you to know that you are the most incredible person I've ever met and the most precious thing in my life”.

Julie wiped some of the tears from her eyes as they flowed more freely and turned to bury her face in his chest and hug him back. She felt him run his fingers along her back as he pressed a kiss on the top of her head. Everything was perfect.

“Sit, I'll push you” he smiled and guided to the swing. It looked just like the one from the video she had showed Ajaa. She was not sure how he managed it, they spent most of their free time together so when he found time to go do this for her was a mystery.

If she closed her eyes it was almost Earth. The wood from the swing bench felt warm against the backs of her legs even as the storm clouds rolled in and the breeze was cool against her face as Ajaa slowly pushed her. “We should come down here more often” she told him.

“Anything for you”.

Julie dug her feet into the ground to stop from swinging and leaned back against Ajaa.

“What's wrong?” he asked.

“Nothing. Everything is perfect, beyond perfect”.

The way he wrapped his arms around her in a hug always made her heart skip beats even a month later as he held her while she sat on the swing. She turned her head to kiss his chest and stomach and she could feel his low rumbling purr as she did. He reached down and tilted her face up towards his and caught her mouth with a chaste kiss. His lips were always cool and soft against hers, something so different than what she had been used to but now she welcomed against hers.

She pushed the kiss deeper, turning her body to face him pressing her tongue into his mouth while she pulled him down to her. She loved the way he moaned while he kissed, how vocal he was while she stroked his cowl or did anything.

Ajaa lifted her from the swing and pulled her tight against him as he carefully laid down and sat her down on top of him. Julie straddled his hips, her knees on either of his body, and placed her elbows on either side of his head so she could run her fingers along his cowl. He always made sure Julie was on top on him, making sure Julie could stop things whenever she wanted and climb down without having to say anything and she was thankful for it, but for now she enjoyed how he felt under her.

His hands found their way to her lower back as before and were pressing her firmly to him while he ground his hips up against her. Julie buried her face into his neck, focusing on the rhythm he was setting and letting out a small moan of her own. It had been a long time since Julie had been with anyone, the last time had been even a while before traveling to Andromeda, and it was really starting to hit her.

She moved her hips in time with his, pressing down each time he rolled up to her. His lips found her lips at the same time his hand found her backside, both were firm against her. Her teeth bumped clumsily into his, the kiss becoming more desperate as she felt a familiar heat pool low in her belly while thunder grumbled louder overhead.

“I, we’re going to get rained out. I think” he panted, though he made no attempt to stop what he was doing.

Julie bit down on his lip before reluctantly pulling away. Being stranded in the rain and trying to make it back to the city while trekking through the mud was just asking for trouble, but she was not sure if she would have the nerve to continue if she stopped.

“Continue up at my apartment?” he asked.

She helped him up and brushed the dirt and leaves off his back, the uncertainty of everything was creeping back up though. 

Ajaa smiled and nuzzled his face against her’s for a moment before picking his bag back up and taking her hand to guide them back out of the forest. He was cheerful as always, chatting animatedly as Julie remained lost in thought.

_ It’s been a month, over a month really on galactic standard time. You’ve slept with people way quicker than that,  _ she mulled. It was true, though it was true for humans. 

_ How can you still be uncomfortable about sleeping with someone outside your species? You’re the only one you know that hasn’t! And it's not like this is some random fuck, he loves you!  _

“-otherwise it's just pointless, you know? Julie? You alright?” Ajaa’s question jolted her out of her train of thought.

“What? Yeah. Fine. I'm fine” she said quickly, hoping to avoid any suspension.

He pursed his lips, clearly not buying it, “If something is bothering you, you can tell me. You know that”.

“It's really nothing, I promise”.

The look on his face said that he still did not believe her, “If it's about what just happened, we don’t have to do anything. Not until you're ready, if you're ever ready. Alright? We can just pretend nothing happened and go cuddle up and wait out the rain”.

Julie gave a nod, the most she could manage for the moment.

“Come on, you don't have to look so serious” he smiled, “I love you, I love what we have, anything more is just a bonus” all of his kisses were very reassuring, “We’ll head back up, I'll bundle you up in that blanket you like, make some tea, and we’ll watch more of the terrible films the Initiative brought over from the Milky Way”.

“I'd like that”.

“Then come on my love, we have a rainy day to enjoy”.


End file.
